Numerous studies over the last two decades have noted the tendency of gamblers to remember their wins better than their losses. Others have noted that gamblers frequently underestimate their losses and claim to have “broken even” for a night or the year when they have actually had large losses. The usual explanation has been wishful thinking.

I am listening to a book on disk during my morning walks called why We Make Mistakes. The author, Dr. Joseph T. Hallinan cites recent studies of memory bias to indicate that gamblers do remember the positive wins in detail. But instead of remembering the losses as losses, they are remembered as near wins and the impact of the losses is minimized in the memory. The wake up call comes when the debts are in the tens of thousands of dollars.

This explanation also makes clear why casinos program slot machines to simulate near misses. Can we spell manipulation?

- Ivan Zabilka, Research Consultant to The Family Foundation