Sports betting is exciting. Many people like to bet. But they often make wrong decisions. This happens even though the odds are good. But why is that? To avoid being taken by surprise with your predictions, perfect your knowledge after this article. After all, practice makes perfect!
The reward system in the brain
Our brain loves rewards and winning feels good. When we bet and win, the brain releases happiness hormones. This is called “dopamine” and it makes us happy, and that’s why we always want to keep going.
Even if we often lose, we keep hoping to win. This hope drives us to keep trying. This is a psychological trick our brain plays on us because we believe the next win is just around the corner.
Fear of loss
Nobody likes to lose and when we do lose at sports betting, this is what often happens: We bet more money to make up for the loss. This is irrational because the numbers don’t change just because we bet more. Yet many people act this way. This is called “loss aversion”. The fear of not getting the money we lost back is great.
This fear leads people to make risky choices. They bet on unlikely events in the hope of making everything right. This often leads to even greater losses.
The principle of availability
People often remember what sticks in their minds easily. When someone talks about a big win, many think: “That could happen to me too!” But they forget about the many losses. Big wins are rare, but they also stay in our memory longer.
This is called the “availability heuristic”. We overestimate the probability of rare events because they stick in our minds, and so many people bet on unlikely things even though the odds are bad.
Overoptimism
Many people believe they are lucky and think they are different from others. They believe they can win more often and this is called “overoptimism”.
Such people often bet on bad odds because they overestimate their chances and even then they think to themselves, “It will be different for me.” This leads to bad decisions.
The “hot hand” effect
The “hot hand” effect is another psychological pitfall. When someone wins a few times in a row, they think they have a “hot hand”. They believe they can’t lose anymore.
This belief is dangerous because each roll or game is independent of the previous one. Just because someone wins often doesn’t mean they will continue to win. Nevertheless, many people bet more when they are on a winning streak.
The Illusion of Control
Another psychological pitfall is the illusion of control, because many people believe that their own skills can influence the outcome of an event. They think that by closely following statistics or knowing teams, they will make better decisions.
But sporting events remain unpredictable and often the results depend on chance. Despite this, many feel more confident and bet more money because they believe they are in control. This often leads to unnecessary losses because they underestimate the uncertainty of the sport.