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A Simple Model for the Utility of Gambling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Peter C. Fishburn
Peter C. Fishburn*
Affiliation:
Bell Laboratories, Inc.
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to Peter Fishburn, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ 07974.
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Abstract

A model of the utility of gambling is presented in a modified von Neumann-Morgenstern format. Axioms imply a utility function that preserves preferences between sure things and between gambles. The addition of a utility of gambling term to the expected utility of a gamble preserves preference comparisons between gambles and sure things. Aspects of the utility of gambling are noted, and comparisons are made to standard concepts of risk attitudes.

Keywords

utility of gamblingexpected utility
Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 45 , Issue 4 , December 1980 , pp. 435 - 448
Copyright
Copyright © 1980 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

The author is indebted to Joseph Sani for valuable discussions on the topic of this paper.

References

Reference Note

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