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Contribution Details

Type Working Paper
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Do casinos pay their customers to become risk-averse? Revising the house money effect in a natural experiment
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Maximilian Valentin Rüdisser
  • Raphael Flepp
  • Egon Franck
Language
  • English
Institution University of Zurich
Series Name Business Working Paper Series
Number 360
Number of Pages 34
Date 2015
Abstract Text In order to promote risky behavior, it is a common practice that casinos incentivize their customers through the provision of free financial means, i.e., free play. Thereby, casino operators try to exploit what is known as the house money effect. However, evidence from the field is scarce and prior research provides explanations that predict different behavioral outcomes. This experimental study analyzes the gambling behavior of 765 casino customers and finds that incentivized customers show not higher but significantly lower levels of risk-seeking behavior, expressed through lower wagers per game and overall smaller losses. This study thus provides evidence against the existence of a house money effect.
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Official URL http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2700052
Other Identification Number merlin-id:12783
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Keywords House money effect, Prospect theory, Natural experiment, Casino gambling