The chase : career of the compulsive gambler

Abstract

In many barrooms, poolrooms, bowling alleys, and casinos, and at many golf courses and race tracks, there are groups of men who engage in seemingly illogical behavior. They "chase." That is, they gamble and lose yet continue to gamble some more in order to "get even." The more money that is lost, the more intense the "chase." Another name for the "chase" is compulsive gambling. Compulsive gamblers are those people who through the chase become trapped in a selfenclosed system of option usage and involvement.