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Updated: Jun 28, 2025

The HoneyComb Paradigm for Research on Collective Human Behavior
Published on: January 19, 2019
Between-session chasing of losses and wins in an online eCasino
Ke Zhang1, Jason D Rights2, Xiaolei Deng1
11Department of Psychology, Centre for Gambling Research at UBC, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Background And Aims:
This study characterized chasing behaviour as the time to return to an online gambling website after a losing or a winning visit.
Methods:
We analyzed a naturalistic dataset from an eCasino (PlayNow.com, the provincial platform for British Columbia, Canada), comprising 1,909,681 sessions from 15,544 individuals. Analyses distinguished sessions on slot machines, blackjack, roulette, video poker, probability games, or mixed-category sessions.
Results:
Overall, gamblers on most games returned more slowly as a function of the prior loss, and more quickly as a function of the prior win. Loss chasing intensities in blackjack, probability, video poker, and mixed sessions did not differ significantly from slot machines, but roulette was associated with shorter intervals to return (b = -0.13, p < 0.001). Similarly, win chasing did not vary across slot machines, blackjack, probability games, and video poker, but roulette (b = -0.08, p < 0.001) and mixed (b = -0.02, p = 0.009) sessions were associated with shorter intervals.
Discussion And Conclusions:
The average behavioural patterns provide limited evidence for loss chasing but clearly indicate win chasing. Although slot machines are commonly considered a high-risk product, roulette in our analyses was associated with the greatest chasing intensities.
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