Fear and loathing in Las Vegas: Evidence from blackjack tables
Journal Title: Judgment and Decision Making - Year 2009, Vol 4, Issue 5
Abstract
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.
Authors and Affiliations
Bruce I. Carlin and David T. Robinson
Keywords
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