Intermittent Reinforcement: The unpredictable nature of rewards (wins) is highly addictive. Cognitive Biases
The Gambler's Fallacy: casino (zoucast.com) The mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, casino it will happen less frequently in the future (e.g., "Red has come up 5 times in a row, so black is due"). Near Misses: casino When the outcome is close to a jackpot (e.g., casino two out of three symbols line up), casino, unitedmusicstreaming.com, the brain reacts similarly to a win, casino (https://narvikguides.no) encouraging more play. Loss Aversion: The pain of losing is psychologically about twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining. This can lead to "chasing losses" in an attempt to get back to even. Not knowing when the next win will come keeps players engaged far longer than a predictable reward schedule would.
Responsible gambling means treating it as a recreational activity with a budget.
