Snake,
1/ I think it's casino mentality.
2/ Marketing. They aways trot out some lucky sucker who jagged a few wins in a row and made a few bob.
Example
I take 1000 people into the casino each with $1,000.
I tell half to plonk it on black, the other half on red.
500 people leave broke.
Of the remainder I tell them the same plonk everything (including winnings) on either black or red...half on each
125 more go home broke
Repeat the same process
now we have 60 (rounded down) left
then 30
then 15
Now we have 15 people with $32,000 from a starting bank of $1,000
I could use those 15 people for testimonials can't I. I have 15 people with > 3,000% profit.
That'd suck a lot of people into thinking they can win big.
The very same thing is happening in the sharemarket
Thats what I think anyway.