Dusk test does not see database update

I'm trying to replicate the Email verification lesson in Laravel 5.5 using Dusk for testing. I'm running into an issue where my test procedure does not see the database update after a user has confirmed his registration through the link.

This is my test procedure:

    public function test_a_user_may_register_but_must_confirm_email_address()
    {
        $this->browse(function (Browser $browser) {
            $browser->visit('/register')
                ->type('name', 'JohnDoe')
                ->type('email', '[email protected]')
                ->type('password', 'password')
                ->type('password_confirmation', 'password')
                ->press('Register')
                ->assertPathIs('/check_inbox')
                ->assertSee('Please check your inbox to confirm your registration');
        });

        $this->assertDatabaseHas('users', ['name' =>'JohnDoe', 'verified' => false]);

        $user = User::whereName('JohnDoe')->first();

        $this->browse(function (Browser $browser) use ($user) {
            $browser->visit("register/confirm/{$user->email_token}")
             ->assertSee("Email verified!");
        });

        // This is the line that's failing
        $this->assertDatabaseHas('users', ['name' =>'JohnDoe', 'verified' => true]);
    }

Here is the controller:

    public function checkConfirmation($email_token)
    {
        $user = User::whereEmailToken($email_token)->firstOrFail();
        $user->verified = true;
        $user->email_token = null;
        $user->save();
        // note I'm adding the verified-attribute here
        dd("Email verified! " . $user->verified);

    }

This is the artisan dusk output:

There was 1 failure:                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                               
1) Tests\Browser\ExampleTest::test_a_user_may_register_but_must_confirm_email_address                                          
Failed asserting that a row in the table [users] matches the attributes {                                                      
    "name": "JohnDoe",                                                                                                         
    "verified": true                                                                                                           
}.                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                               
Found: [                                                                                                                       
    {                                                                                                                          
        "id": 1,                                                                                                               
        "name": "JohnDoe",                                                                                                     
        "email": "[email protected]",                                                                                        
        "password": "$2y$10$dMIS2MqW1MKNGc3lGKORROirp73q\/X.gyLv.bCzblxl3Wfq2spj6y",                                           
        "remember_token": null,                                                                                                
        "verified": 0,                                                                                                         
        "email_token": "S0vapdxiyL0nuEqiuT8rup24jlXHjL9B",                                                                     
        "google2fa_secret": null,                                                                                              
        "created_at": "2017-09-28 07:56:30",                                                                                   
        "updated_at": "2017-09-28 07:56:30"                                                                                    
    }                                                                                                                          
].                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                               
/home/vagrant/Code/moonventory/vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Foundation/Testing/Concerns/InteractsWithDatabase.php:22
/home/vagrant/Code/moonventory/tests/Browser/ExampleTest.php:63                                                                

So after completing the verification link the test finds that the user is not verified in the database. However, according to my database the user has been verified successfully and artisan tinker shows that as well..

If I change the line assertSee("Email verified!") to assertSee("foo") the screenschot shows that the user was verified:

I cannot chain the assertDatabaseHas to the $this->browse(...) because that returns a null.

If I take out the last assertDatabaseHas and put it in a separate function, the test succeeds:

        $this->browse(function (Browser $browser) use ($user) {
            $browser->visit("register/confirm/{$user->email_token}")
             ->assertSee("Email verified!");
        });

    }

    public function test_databasecheck_in_a_seperate_function()
    {
        $this->assertDatabaseHas('users', ['name' =>'JohnDoe', 'verified' => true]);
    }

... but I'd like to keep the database assertion in the same function as the other tests, since they belong together. Is that a bad idea? Am I doing something wrong or is dusk a bit wonky?