Optimal exit time from casino gambling: Strategies of precommitted and naive gamblers

We consider a casino gambling model with an indefinite end date and gamblers endowed with cumulative prospect theory preferences. We study the optimal strategies of a precommitted gambler, who commits her future selves to the strategy she sets up today, and of a naive gambler, who is unaware of time...

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Main Authors: He, XD, Hu, S, Obloj, J, Zhou, XY
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics 2019
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author He, XD
Hu, S
Obloj, J
Zhou, XY
author_facet He, XD
Hu, S
Obloj, J
Zhou, XY
author_sort He, XD
collection OXFORD
description We consider a casino gambling model with an indefinite end date and gamblers endowed with cumulative prospect theory preferences. We study the optimal strategies of a precommitted gambler, who commits her future selves to the strategy she sets up today, and of a naive gambler, who is unaware of time-inconsistency and may alter her strategy at any time. We identify conditions under which the precommitted gambler, asymptotically, adopts a loss-exit strategy, a gain-exit strategy, or a nonexit strategy. For a specific parameter setting when the utility function is piecewise power and the probability weighting functions are concave power, we derive the optimal strategy of the precommitted gambler in closed form whenever it exists, via solving an infinite-dimensional program. Finally, we study the actual behavior of the naive gambler and highlight its marked differences from that of the precommitted gambler. In particular, for most empirically relevant cumulative prospect theory parameter values, a precommitted gambler takes a loss-exit strategy while a naive agent does not stop with probability one at any loss level.
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spelling oxford-uuid:fe98f1e1-dfb6-43b0-beda-247f8b50838e2022-03-27T13:37:55ZOptimal exit time from casino gambling: Strategies of precommitted and naive gamblersJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:fe98f1e1-dfb6-43b0-beda-247f8b50838eEnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordSociety for Industrial and Applied Mathematics2019He, XDHu, SObloj, JZhou, XYWe consider a casino gambling model with an indefinite end date and gamblers endowed with cumulative prospect theory preferences. We study the optimal strategies of a precommitted gambler, who commits her future selves to the strategy she sets up today, and of a naive gambler, who is unaware of time-inconsistency and may alter her strategy at any time. We identify conditions under which the precommitted gambler, asymptotically, adopts a loss-exit strategy, a gain-exit strategy, or a nonexit strategy. For a specific parameter setting when the utility function is piecewise power and the probability weighting functions are concave power, we derive the optimal strategy of the precommitted gambler in closed form whenever it exists, via solving an infinite-dimensional program. Finally, we study the actual behavior of the naive gambler and highlight its marked differences from that of the precommitted gambler. In particular, for most empirically relevant cumulative prospect theory parameter values, a precommitted gambler takes a loss-exit strategy while a naive agent does not stop with probability one at any loss level.
spellingShingle He, XD
Hu, S
Obloj, J
Zhou, XY
Optimal exit time from casino gambling: Strategies of precommitted and naive gamblers
title Optimal exit time from casino gambling: Strategies of precommitted and naive gamblers
title_full Optimal exit time from casino gambling: Strategies of precommitted and naive gamblers
title_fullStr Optimal exit time from casino gambling: Strategies of precommitted and naive gamblers
title_full_unstemmed Optimal exit time from casino gambling: Strategies of precommitted and naive gamblers
title_short Optimal exit time from casino gambling: Strategies of precommitted and naive gamblers
title_sort optimal exit time from casino gambling strategies of precommitted and naive gamblers
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AT hus optimalexittimefromcasinogamblingstrategiesofprecommittedandnaivegamblers
AT oblojj optimalexittimefromcasinogamblingstrategiesofprecommittedandnaivegamblers
AT zhouxy optimalexittimefromcasinogamblingstrategiesofprecommittedandnaivegamblers