Risky Business: Increasing Risky Betting Through Rule-Governed Behavior

The present study replicated and extended previous research by exploring the extent to which rules altered participants' engagement in risky betting in an electronic blackjack game. A multiple-baseline across-participants design with predetermined phase changes was used to assess 4 recreational gamblers' betting patterns in blackjack across 3 phases. During baseline, participants played blackjack with no exposure to rules. In the faulty rules phase, researchers gave participants a rule that suggested larger payouts would occur if gamblers played let-it-ride bets. Let-it-ride bets were placed after a winning hand and required participants to wager their entire winnings on the next hand. During the correct rules phase, researchers gave participants a rule that suggested that the let-it-ride bets did not result in larger payouts. Data on let-it-ride bets across each minute of play were collected. The results of the study demonstrated that the frequency of risky bets increased when participants were exposed to the incorrect rule. Following participants' exposure to correct rules, risky bets decreased, but most participants did not return to baseline rates.