Know How Casinos Trick You Into Playing Slot Machines

Many of us realize that at a casino, they stack the deck against you. That's why you avoid gambling. If you're staying at a hotel or event near a casino, you might just "dabble." Even if you don't usually gamble, the bells and whistles of a slot machine might draw you in—but that's where casinos make their money.

Over at Vox, they interviewed industry experts on why slot machines are so addictive. While we intend to just spend a few minutes there, we often spend more time than we realize:

The gambling industry has realized that the biggest profits come from getting people to sit at slot machines and play for hours and hours on end. (Schüll says the industry refers to this as the "Costco model" of gambling.) As such, slot machines are designed to maximize "time on device."

Computerized slots have made this all possible. Again, in the old days, you pulled the lever and either won or you lost — and when people lost, they'd walk away.

Today's multi-line slot machines are far more elaborate. Instead of a single line, a player can bet on up to 200 lines at a time on the video screen — up, down, sideways, diagonal — each with a chance of winning. So a person might bet 70 cents and win on 35 of the lines, getting 35 cents back. That feels like a partial win — and captivates your attention.

"The laboratory research on this shows that people experience this in their brains in an identical way as a win," Schüll says. (And the economics research shows that these multi-line machines are far better at separating players from their money.)

Check out the link for more on why it's rarely worth playing a slot machine. The next time you see one, just walk past it.

How casinos get you to spend more money | Vox

Photo by Travis Isaacs.

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