Why Do Sports Bettors Gamble Until They Lose?

For many people who bet on sports, quitting is difficult—especially after initially winning. This behavior is a classic sign of a sports betting addiction.

Euphoria derived from winning money at gambling can trigger a compulsion to replicate the experience. This can lead people to bet until all their initial winnings are returned to the casino or sportsbook. You might have heard the phrase, “the house always wins.”

In the long run, the sportsbook will beat you and take money from you.

Gamblers often play until they lose their initial stake and any winnings due to a combination of psychological, emotional and cognitive biases. 

Gambling activates the brain's reward system. Wins produce a “high” from a rush of dopamine, while losses can be painful and lead the gambler to keep playing in search of another high.

Understanding these factors is crucial for addressing problem sports gambling behaviors and developing strategies to reduce the risks.

This article will dive deeper into the phenomenon of “gambling until you lose,” a central albeit general component of a gambling addiction.

Gambler's Fallacy

This is the mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than expected, it will happen less frequently in the future.

For example, after a series of losses, a sports gambler might believe they're "due" for a win, encouraging continued play.

You can also think of flipping a coin. If you flip a coin and get heads a few times in a row, that doesn’t mean that getting tails is any likelier to happen on the next coin toss. These 50-50 outcomes are independent, so you can’t reliably win money by trying to predict an outcome in this way.

This fallacy is similar to a superstition in terms of being an illogical mindset for gambling.

An initial big win can be dangerous for many gamblers because they develop a sense that another big win is around the corner if they continue to gamble.

Illusion of Skill

Sports betting doesn’t involve skill, especially in the short and medium term.

Sports gamblers may believe they have the skill or ability to predict or influence the outcome of what is actually a game of chance. The fallacy can lead to betting until all your money is gone.

This false sense of control can keep you playing longer than is rational, believing that you can turn the tide in your favor through analysis of sports stats or news.

The Near-Miss Effect

Similar to the fallacy of believing that the toss of a coin is influenced by the result of the previous toss is something called the near-miss effect in sports betting.

This is the false belief that being close to a big win means the jackpot is right around the corner. This is especially dangerous for parlays, where a sports bettor might lose the entire parlay wager because a single component of the bet (out of many components) fails to come true. Being close to a big win can encourage continued betting until you lose all your money.

Here’s an example: You create a parlay involving five NFL games on a single Sunday. You correctly pick four out of the five games but incorrectly pick one of them. You’re ⅘ or 80% success rate on the parlay legs is irrelevant because the entire parlay bet lost.

For some sports gamblers, experiencing a near miss can be as intoxicating as a win.

Overconfidence

Similar to the fallacy of thinking an independent gambling outcome is actually tied to a previous outcome is a feeling of arrogance or overconfidence.

A sports betting hot streak can lead to a sense of invincibility, including a belief in one's ability to influence chance outcomes, prompting gamblers to continue playing in the belief that they can maintain their winning streak.

Many sports gamblers who developed an addiction have talked about their overconfidence stemming from an early big win.

Chasing Losses

The basic gambler’s fallacy, illusion of skill, near-miss effect and overconfidence can create a toxic mindset that leads to chasing losses, one of the hallmarks of a sports gambling problem.

The pain of losing can be psychologically more powerful than the pleasure of winning. 

Chasing losses can create a vicious cycle where the more you lose, the more you feel compelled to gamble. This behavior often leads to debt.

For many sports fans, gambling is a way to escape negative thoughts or feelings.

Betting can become a coping mechanism, with players continuing to gamble to maintain the escape it provides, regardless of how much they lose.

Who's to Blame?

Sports gambling products are designed and advertised to be addictive.

The gambling environment, whether it’s in a brick-and-mortar casino sportsbook or a sports gambling app such as the addictive DraftKings, is designed to encourage continuous play and prey on people’s weaknesses.

Complimentary alcoholic drinks, the absence of clocks and windows, and massive TV screens and odds boards in a brick-and-mortar casino can create a sense of disorientation that makes it more likely that you gamble until all your cash is gone.

Gambling app push notifications, VIP hosts, promotional gambling credit and social rewards such as gambling “leader boards” also influence gamblers to give back any initial winnings and more.

We’ll end this article with insight from former Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn. In an interview with CBS, Wynn admitted that in decades of being a casino owner he had never known of anyone who had won a significant amount of money and then walked away.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.