TY  - JOUR
AU  - Carlin,Bruce Ian
AU  - Robinson,David T.
TI  - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Evidence from Blackjack Tables
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14955
PY  - 2009
Y2  - May 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14955
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14955.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Bruce I. Carlin
Anderson Graduate School of Management
UCLA
110 Westwood Plaza, Suite C413
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481
Tel: 310/825-7246
E-Mail: bruce.carlin@anderson.ucla.edu

David T. Robinson
Fuqua School of Business
Duke University
100 Fuqua Drive
Durham, NC 27708
Tel: 919/660-8023
Fax: 919/684-2818
E-Mail: davidr@duke.edu
AB  - Psychologists study regret primarily by measuring subjects' attitudes in laboratory experiments. This does not shed light on how expected regret affects economic actions in market settings. To address this, we use proprietary data from a blackjack table in Las Vegas to analyze how expected regret affects peoples''decisions during gambles. Even among a group of people who choose to participate in a risk-taking activity, we find strong evidence of an economically significant omission bias: players incur substantial losses by playing too conservatively. This behavior is prevalent even among large stakes gamblers, and becomes more severe following previous aggressive play, suggesting a rebound effect after aggressive play.
ER  -