At its heart, gambling is a rather paradoxical behaviour because it
is widely known that ‘the house always wins’. Whether you are gambling
on fruit machines, horseracing, blackjack or roulette, the odds will
have been meticulously arranged to ensure a steady profit for the casino
or bookmaker. The only way to achieve this is for the gambler to make a
steady loss. So why do gamblers, and particularly problem gamblers,
continue to play when the overwhelming likelihood is that they will lose
money?
Dr Luke Clark, in the Department of Experimental Psychology, is
interested in the different ways in which gamblers over-estimate their
chances of winning, including the effects of near-misses and personal
choice. These features of gambling games promote an ‘illusion of
control’: the belief that the gambler can exert skill over an outcome
that is actually defined by chance.
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2/15/2012
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