If you are an avid gambler, you may already know about the concept of hunting down losses, as well as the experience of being on a losing streak.
Gamblers chase losses because they are frustrated by losing and eager to regain their lost money. This is an approach to gambling because it encourages people to make rash decisions that exacerbate their problems. Gamblers who chase losses are more-or-less guaranteed to lose even more than they have already lost.
If you have been gaming for any length of time, I can assure you that you must definitely have been on the hunt for losses at one time or another, only to eventually feel even more regret, or even to have lost even more money than what you lost before. Sometimes when you chase losses, you will be lucky and win, but other times, you will be unlucky and lose more.
When someone feels compelled to get revenge for losses by winning, that is a great sign the relationship with the game has turned bad. After all, even though some individuals are fortunate enough to win large, losses in casinos are always outnumbered by winners. Chasing losses at gambling is the number one way gamblers lose more money than they ever wanted to. Casino players begin to chase losses minutes after the casino opens, and players will continue to chase losses until they cannot play the game anymore.
Gamblers’ Mistakes to Avoid
And while you are not using this exact system, if you are like most players, you have been chasing losses at least once. The strategies listed in this post are not going to help you win any more money by chasing losses, but the three strategies included here are not nearly as bad as how most gamblers chase losses. This post covers why people chase losing bets, how detrimental this is to your confidence, and how you can stop chasing losses. When you begin chasing losses on sports bets and/or playing a Martingale system, you are ensnared entirely in sports betting spiderweb.
Of course, Martingale is not the only way of chasing losses, but it is the chasing-loss-based system that has been used for centuries by players. The martingale betting system can be used on most types of wagers, but the best way to use it is with wagers that pay out at evens, or 1-to-1 odds, and have close to 50% odds of winning. Using this may still be risky, but if you are gambling on real advantage, you may be able to pursue losses over short periods without causing catastrophic results.
If you really do know how to gamble with an edge, then you might be able to afford to chase losses in certain situations, and that is not going to kill you. When you are playing a game to prove to yourself, or others, that you did not make a bad decision, it seems like the logical thing to do is to chase losses. It is better to quit while ahead, or before you have lost more than you can afford, rather than fall into the trap of trying to get back losses.
If you do score a big win, you are sure to be thrilled, but like with losing, you may feel the temptation to try and win big again, and it is impossible to say how your luck is going to turn out.
Never Chase Your Losses
You are not going to gamble in these casual games the day you win, so what is the logic of doing it the day you lose. You may be convinced you are going to win in the end, so you put more money and more time into the game, but all you are doing is steadily adding up your losses.
If you lose, you double your bet down, and you continue doubling down until you win once and you can call it a day; so, eventually, you end up with that same little gain that you would have had you won on the first bet. Here’s an example of a lower-variance, advantage-betting game, where the amount of money you win or lose each betting session is tracked.
If you have a really limitless bankroll, enjoy gambling, and can find places to consistently make large bets, then you can chase losses as often as you like. This either helps you win the money, or it will help you lose the money slower, at the very least, if all you care to take out of sports betting is fun. Whether you are a casual online player or a pro, each individual is looking for that one big payoff, and losing bets can be a significant disappointment and anxiety.
Gambling Addicts Are Prone to Chasing
People have lost all reasons to manage money and surrendered all their patience, only so that they could get one chance at feeling that adrenaline rush of winning, and therefore, not having to take the loss of the day. Problem gamblers are usually frugal with their money in other aspects of their lives, but they throw huge amounts away at gambling at the drop of a hat.
Rather than sticking to one betting strategy and putting up with the volatility in the short-term, problem gamblers will double down on staking, in a desperate effort to make back losses that have been made in the past. Chasing after an individual loss is a common phenomenon in problem gamblers, and it can be the most important step in the path toward problem gambling.
Psychiatric Associations Categorize Loss Approaches
The DSM-IV criteria (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, fourth edition) for problem gambling includes the following: Chasing one’s losses, that is, continuing gambling, often by increasing betting, in order to rebound from losses. Problem gambling may be defined by increased ritualistic behavior, anxiety, increased obsessiveness, and ultimately, loss of control.
Given that alexithymia is associated with problem gambling, and that problem gambling is associated with loss-seeking, and that activity in multiple brain regions is associated with both loss-seeking and alexithymia, it seems reasonable to predict an association between alexithymia and loss-seeking behavior in gambling.
Experiment 1 used a simple gambling task, the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT; Rogers et al., 1999), to test the prediction that higher alexithymia is associated with greater loss-chasing. An abstinence-based approach is unavoidably needed to assist with problematic behavior, particularly once recklessness to chase losses has taken hold. In particular, a propensity for pursuing losses is dependent upon a need to recapture prior losses, and the inability to cope with the emotional consequences of these losses. Playing games is not enjoyable anymore, it is more about getting back on track and finding ways to rationalize losses.