Office betting pools can be bad for your health: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Office pools betting on who will win "American Idol" or the NCAA basketball tournament can be bad for your health and happiness, according to a new study.

Researchers from Arizona State University carried out four experiments involving about 850 students. They found that betting on the outcome actually reduced people's enjoyment of the event and could make them stressed.

In a study to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research, researchers Naomi Mandel and Stephen M. Nowlis said no one liked to be wrong, especially in front of their work colleagues.

"Once a person has committed to a predicted outcome, he's set himself up for the possibility of looking like a fool. In other words, the fear of losing (known as 'anticipated regret') may actually feel worse than losing itself," they said in a statement.

"Peoples' worry about losing the bet tends to spoil the event for them."

Mandel and Nowlis embarked on the project after taking part in an office pool related to the CBS television show "Survivor."

They noticed colleagues' stress levels increased after locking in predictions about the show so they designed a series of four experiments where they asked participants to predict or not predict the outcome of game shows and marble games.

They found that participants expected that betting on events would enhance their viewing experience but the actual effects were the opposite.

"In a wide range of studies, people have been shown to be poor predictors of their own enjoyment and happiness," they said.

"Our results imply that a consumer playing roulette might actually enjoy that gamble more if the 'house' rather than the consumer chooses the number to be played."

The researchers found that it didn't really matter in the end if the person won or lost the pool.

"Among those who made predictions, participants who were correct enjoyed the event no more than those who were incorrect," they said.

(Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Patricia Reaney)