Gambling has become one of the defining pleasures of our time. The thrill of winning a big jackpot is an exciting way to spend an afternoon, or simply to earn bragging rights after successfully beating the house is also part of the buzz. It is very much like winning or losing at sports. We have all heard of the team that consistently loses, and some may wonder why the team’s players keep coming back? Some of it is the teamwork and social aspect, for others they just want to compete, and for others, it is just for the love of the game and chasing those few wins over a season that is more than enough. Gambling is very similar. People enjoy the social aspect, the buzz of winning, and some just like to compete against the house regardless of whether they win or lose.
House Edge or Return to Player Creates a Cushion
The key reason casinos can exist is that every game is designed to make a profit. For example, the best online casinos in the United States reviewed here are in abundance because every game has a house edge that swings the long-run odds of every outcome in favor of the house. This is called the house edge. To explain this in its simplest form, your typical blackjack game has a house edge of 0.5%, or in other words, the player wins 99.5% of the time. The profit for the casino, in the long run, is 0.5% on average. For video slots, the house edge is on average 4% and for roulette, it is 2.7%, while the same principle applies to every game you see on the casino floor. You could go as far as to say it is a surcharge for providing a service.
What’s more, is that the house edge is not a mystery or a hidden secret. It is something all seasoned gamblers are aware of. Just being conscious of this fact has in some ways created a cushion for gamblers, or a soft landing in case of losses if you will. If a gambler loses, he knows that the challenge or game is to beat the house edge, and if that doesn’t happen, a losing session is all part of the game.
Playing For Life-Changing Jackpot Wins Keeps Players Interested
Landing a life-changing jackpot is no easy feat, but the looming opportunity of doing so despite losses gives players a reason to continue grinding. We could loosely compare playing jackpot casino games to buying a lottery ticket. In reality, the chances of winning one of the major lotteries are more than a million to one, but even though week after week millions of people don’t win, they continue to buy lottery tickets mainly because many of them can’t help thinking about what they will spend their winnings on with the dream of an expensive Caribbean Island getaway, paying off their mortgage, or paying off some debt.
In comparison, playing jackpot casino games offer the same buzz but with continuous gameplay. In fact, online casino jackpot slots have a higher chance of paying out compared to a lottery ticket. Games like the popular NetEnt slot Divine Fortune’s progressive jackpot can rise to over the million-dollar mark. With vast sums ready to drop, inevitably this keeps players coming back to play the slot in case the jackpot drops on them. And they keep coming back despite losses during regular play on slot simply because if the jackpot drops, it will far outweigh the expense; similar to the attitude of lottery, which is ‘the risk is worth taking’.
Affordability Due to Proper Bankroll Management
Some people feel they can afford to lose because they have already budgeted for the loss. This seems like a pessimistic approach – ‘the glass is half empty’ – so to speak, but it works, and it is a more sensible approach to online gambling versus using gambling as a way to make money online. The theory behind bankroll management and bet sizing is that a casino player can play for longer by not squandering their entire budgeted bankroll. They break their budget into affordable session segments.
Should he/she lose the amount budgeted for a session, there is always for the next session. The idea behind this is that eventually one of those sessions will be profitable. Hence, we may see players losing often, but they keep coming back because the loss is already accounted for, while the key motive is to chase a winning session.
Science research suggests winning despite losses still feels rewarding
To sum up, you are not alone if you’ve ever wondered why people continue to gamble despite losses. A Stanford University study showed that 92% of respondents were rewarded when they won money even though they had lost. This is because when a person loses, it produces a positive response. The brain’s reward pathways change and people who lose more often perceive near losses as a positive reward.
In another study, participants who had already lost a bet started the next game more quickly than those who had just won. This result challenged the ‘post-error slowing’ effect, which suggests that failures infuse subsequent behavior with a higher level of impulsivity than wins. The researchers concluded that people who experience these “highs” are more likely to continue betting despite losses.
Some key instigators for casino players to continue chasing wins are the challenge of beating the house edge, jackpot payouts being worth the risk, and bankroll management that limits losses in search while in search of that buzz a winning session can produce.