Fear and loathing in Las Vegas: Evidence from blackjack tables
This paper uses proprietary data from a blackjack table in Las Vegas to analyze how the expectation of regret affects peoples’ decisions during gambles. Even among a group of people who choose to participate in a risk-taking activity, we find strong evidence of an economically significant omission b...
Main Authors: | , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2009-08-01
|
Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500001212/type/journal_article |
_version_ | 1797696326479118336 |
---|---|
author | Bruce I. Carlin David T. Robinson |
author_facet | Bruce I. Carlin David T. Robinson |
author_sort | Bruce I. Carlin |
collection | DOAJ |
description | This paper uses proprietary data from a blackjack table in Las Vegas to analyze how the expectation of regret affects peoples’ decisions during gambles. Even among a group of people who choose to participate in a risk-taking activity, we find strong evidence of an economically significant omission bias: 80% of the mistakes at the table are caused by playing too conservatively, resulting in substantial monetary losses. This behavior is equally prevalent among large-stakes gamblers and does not change in the face of more complicated strategic decisions. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:24:45Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-2a22bf526a1f4672ac84f863e986a87f |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1930-2975 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:24:45Z |
publishDate | 2009-08-01 |
publisher | Cambridge University Press |
record_format | Article |
series | Judgment and Decision Making |
spelling | doaj.art-2a22bf526a1f4672ac84f863e986a87f2023-09-03T13:42:56ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752009-08-01438539610.1017/S1930297500001212Fear and loathing in Las Vegas: Evidence from blackjack tablesBruce I. Carlin0David T. Robinson1UCLADuke UniversityThis paper uses proprietary data from a blackjack table in Las Vegas to analyze how the expectation of regret affects peoples’ decisions during gambles. Even among a group of people who choose to participate in a risk-taking activity, we find strong evidence of an economically significant omission bias: 80% of the mistakes at the table are caused by playing too conservatively, resulting in substantial monetary losses. This behavior is equally prevalent among large-stakes gamblers and does not change in the face of more complicated strategic decisions.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500001212/type/journal_articleblackjackgamblingomission biasdecision making |
spellingShingle | Bruce I. Carlin David T. Robinson Fear and loathing in Las Vegas: Evidence from blackjack tables Judgment and Decision Making blackjack gambling omission bias decision making |
title | Fear and loathing in Las Vegas: Evidence from blackjack tables |
title_full | Fear and loathing in Las Vegas: Evidence from blackjack tables |
title_fullStr | Fear and loathing in Las Vegas: Evidence from blackjack tables |
title_full_unstemmed | Fear and loathing in Las Vegas: Evidence from blackjack tables |
title_short | Fear and loathing in Las Vegas: Evidence from blackjack tables |
title_sort | fear and loathing in las vegas evidence from blackjack tables |
topic | blackjack gambling omission bias decision making |
url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297500001212/type/journal_article |
work_keys_str_mv | AT bruceicarlin fearandloathinginlasvegasevidencefromblackjacktables AT davidtrobinson fearandloathinginlasvegasevidencefromblackjacktables |