West Virginia University John Chambers College of Business and Economics researchers are taking a closer look at problem gambling behavior, specifically loss-chasing. The goal is to gain insights on how to enhance player protections amid the continued expansion of sports betting nationwide.
Arnold Ventures, which is a philanthropy that helps support initiatives that involve research to impact policy, has provided almost $300,000 in a research grant to WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics.
The goal for this WVU initiative is to analyze data from West Virginia gaming operators to look for any trends with impulsive betting. Currently, West Virginia sportsbooks include FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, Fanatics Sportsbook, and BetRivers.
After taking a look at the data, WVU researchers aim to find triggers that lead to loss-chasing, which is when a bettor immediately places another wager to try to make up for their recent loss. As one of the common behaviors involved with problem gambling, gaining insight into loss-chasing can be important to protect players.
The problem with loss-chasing is that it’s one of the main ways that bettors rack up debt. When a user loses a wager and then tries to make back their losses, they’re often acting emotionally rather than rationally, which leads to undesired results.
For example, let’s say a bettor researches their first wager. Feels confident that they’ll win based on their informed selection. The bet ends up losing in an unlucky way, perhaps with a late home run or interception. The bettor is angry at the result and quickly looks for another bet to try to make up for this loss.
This is a common scenario. More often than not, the second bet, the one made to chase the loss, ends up losing because they’re no longer making an informed selection. It’s why initiatives such as the WVU research into triggers of this behavior can be a positive for responsible gaming.
In addition to analyzing data from West Virginia sportsbooks, WVU can look to Colorado for an example of how policy changes can positively impact loss-chasing. Colorado recently made changes to its sports betting policy. They just took effect earlier this week.
Two of them directly relate to loss-chasing behavior. First, they have banned credit card deposits, preventing users from accumulating debt through credit and transaction fees. On top of that, they have limited deposits to only six within a 24-hour period.
Those who attempt to chase losses often make multiple deposits in one day, so it will be interesting to see if added restrictions can deter this type of behavior. Combined with the WVU research initiative, these are two examples of states aiming to enhance responsible gaming.
