The impact of precommitment on risk-taking while gambling: A preliminary study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Precommitment refers to the ability to prospectively restrict the access to temptations. This study examined whether risk-taking during gambling is decreased when an individual has the opportunity to precommit to his forthcoming bet. METHODS: Sixty individuals participated in a gambling task that consisted of direct choice (simply chose one monetary option among four available ones, ranging from low-risk to high-risk options) or precommitment trials (before choosing an amount, participants had the opportunity to make a binding choice that made high-risk options unavailable). RESULTS: We found that participants utilized the precommitment option, such that risk-taking was decreased on precommitment trials compared to direct choices. Within the precommitment trials, there was no significant difference in risk-taking following decisions to restrict versus non-restrict. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that the opportunity to precommit may be sufficient to reduce the attractiveness of risk. CONCLUSIONS: Present results might be exploited to create interventions aiming at enhancing one’s ability to anticipate self-control failures while gambling.