Between-session chasing via time of return in online eCasino gambling

Chasing refers to continuing and/or intensifying gambling following losses (loss-chasing) and/or wins (win-chasing). It is commonly captured between sessions, i.e., returning another day/time after losses or wins in prior sessions. Between-session chasing is a hallmark of problematic gambling, but the current understanding of between-session chasing in field settings remains limited.

Using a large-scale behavioral tracking dataset (11,156 gamblers; ∼170 million bets), we assessed between-session chasing via time of return. Using pre-registered analyses, we assessed time of return as a function of (a) prior outcome (win/loss), (b) outcome magnitude, (c) game type (Multi-line Slots, Dice game, European Roulette and Multi-hand European Blackjack) and (d) gambler's involvement level (high/low; defined based on monetary and time expenditure).

Confirmatory results indicated that overall gamblers returned faster following a winning than a losing session. They returned faster when previous outcome magnitude (both wins and losses) increased. Furthermore, return times of slot gamblers were less sensitive to prior outcomes than other products. Exploratory results indicated that return times of high-involvement gamblers were less sensitive to prior outcome than low-involvement gamblers.

The current results indicate a pattern of both loss- and win-chasing, demonstrating that the break-even, house money and wealth effects may be at play. Decreased sensitivity to prior outcome among slot and high-involvement gamblers may be attributed to habituation. Future research could disentangle these multi-causal mechanisms, to evaluate time of return as a potential behavioral marker of harm, for better identification and mitigation of problem gambling.