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Revisiting the house money effect in the field: Evidence from casino jackpots

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  • Flepp, Raphael
  • Rüdisser, Maximilian

Abstract

This paper tests the house money effect, i.e., that prior gains increase subsequent risk-taking behavior, in the field. We use individual-level slot machine gambling records of 5,169 players from a real casino and employ jackpot hits as exogenous house money shocks. Our results show that players wager significantly less money after hitting a jackpot, which implies that players reduce their risk-taking behavior and thus act more cautiously after experiencing gains. We fail to replicate the house money effect in the field and find evidence for a reverse house money effect. Furthermore, while risk-taking behavior is reduced after hitting a jackpot, the jackpot size has no additional effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Flepp, Raphael & Rüdisser, Maximilian, 2019. "Revisiting the house money effect in the field: Evidence from casino jackpots," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 146-148.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:181:y:2019:i:c:p:146-148
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2019.05.026
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    Cited by:

    1. Flepp, Raphael & Meier, Philippe & Franck, Egon, 2021. "The effect of paper outcomes versus realized outcomes on subsequent risk-taking: Field evidence from casino gambling," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 45-55.
    2. Hee Mok Park & Joseph Pancras, 2022. "Social and Spatiotemporal Impacts of Casino Jackpot Events," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(3), pages 575-592, May.
    3. Philippe Meier & Raphael Flepp & Maximilian Rüdisser & Egon Franck, 2020. "The effect of paper versus realized losses on subsequent risk-taking: Field evidence from casino gambling," Working Papers 385, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    House money effect; Decision-making; Risk; Field study; Casino;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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