New Research Shows Why Casinos Serve Free Drinks To Gamblers

Most casinos tend to serve their VIP customers free drinks as a complimentary service but also as a key strategy because they know that players under the influence of alcohol tend to make rash decisions. A new study has confirmed this pin-pointed possible reasons why gambling and drinking is never a good combination. 

The study performed at the Center for Gambling Research was funded by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation.

In the study, participants were grouped into two batches with both playing digital roulette. One group was provided with enough shots of vodka to get them mildly intoxicated. The other group was given non-alcoholic drinks.

As both groups were observed, it was obvious that the players who were drunk got bad results compared to their sober counterparts. The participants who consumed alcohol got bad results due to their tendency to chase their losses by increasing their bets.

It is a known fact that drinking alcohol diminishes your inhibition. Inhibition is a primary component in decision making. Thus, with the diminished inhibition, a gambler is more likely to make questionable and hasty decisions.

Chasing The Gambler’s Fallacy

One of the reasons gamblers lose more money is due to their desire to recoup their losses. They fall prey to the gambler’s fallacy which believes that after a string of consecutive losses, their luck will change and they will come out on the winning side sooner or later. This is the reason why it is hard for them to leave the casino even after suffering significant losses because they believe their luck is about to change.

For example, a gambler who is playing digital roulette notices that the results are usually showing an odd number. So, they end up placing a bet on an even number since based on the gambler’s fallacy belief that the result of an odd number being chosen yet again diminishes since the last few results have been odd numbers. Thus, they are willing to bet one more time on an even number because of the way their thinking is wired.   

Of course this belief is false because the results of the games from casinos are completely random. Therefore, succumbing to the gambler’s fallacy only makes you lose more money.

The study shows that another reason why a gambler loses more money when gambling while drunk is their inability to properly assess their wins and losses. In other words, a gambler might be okay with losing a $1,000 bet if they can see a possible $5,000 win. 

One of the ways to increase your chances of winning at the casinos is to decline those free drinks, no matter how tempting they might be!