Study finds baccarat wins and losses affect wagering

A study funded by Saga Sammy aims to offer some insight into risky gambling behaviour in the popular game.  

South Korea.- A new study examines how repeated betting behaviour in baccarat players varies according to winning and losing outcomes.  

The study published by the International Gambling Studies Journal was funded and supported by Japanese entertainment giant Sega Sammy.   

The proposition was to examine empirical data obtained from April 2017 to January 2018 at a South Korean casino in which all gamblers were foreign nationals – 40 per cent were Chinese and a similar number were Japanese.

The goal was to find out if winning or losing went on to affect gambling behaviour in any way.  

The study included analysis of 7,935,566 games played by 3,986 players at the land-based casino.  

The investigators concluded that there was one significant main effect: players tended to bet more money after losing than after winning, but  “the bet amount in baccarat gradually increased according to streak length, and this effect was more pronounced after sequential winning than after sequential losing.”  

The proportions of multiple bets decreased after sequential losing but increased after sequential winning.  

After analysing the data, the researchers concluded that gamblers in baccarat become more reckless after experiencing consecutive wins than consecutive losses, both in terms of the bet amount and the dividend rate.  

They said: “The increase in the betting amount after consecutive wins is likely to eventually cause heavy cumulative losses and is therefore regarded as a sign of shifting toward risky gambling behaviour.

“The experience of wins supposedly creates expectations that similar consequences will follow in the future.”

This creates the false illusion of experiencing a “hot streak”, they said. 

The investigators also pointed out that the proportions of bets decreased after a sequential loss. They concluded that “while chasing after losing is an important component of problem gambling, the experience of a win, especially consecutive wins, is more influential on forming risky betting behaviour, at least in baccarat games.”