Slot Machines
Electronic gambling machines represent the most extreme form of predatory gambling and its most lucrative.
From The Washington Post: “Beware – Machine Zone Ahead”
MIT Professor Natasha Schull writes about the design and technology behind electronic gambling machines in an excellent Washington Post Op-Ed piece.
Meet Your New Neighbor: How Slot Machines are Secretly Designed to Seduce and Destroy You, and How the Government Is In On It
MUST-READ. Here’s what may be the best investigative news story about electronic gambling machines and the partnership between the predatory gambling trade and our government written to date. The reporter was Isaiah Thompson of the Philadelphia City Paper and it appeared in January 2009
Behind Electronic Gambling Machines
Drawing on research conducted in Las Vegas among game developers and gamblers, MIT Professor Natasha Schull provides an in-depth analysis behind the design and technology of electronic gambling machines.
Schull Research on Machine Psychology
Graphic of the Design and Technology Behind Slot Machines
Here is an excellent visual of the design and technology behind slot machines that accompanied a March 2009 Boston Globe news story on the topic titled “Glitzy video slots seen as a particular addiction risk.” (click on graphic to enlarge)
The Software and Design of Slot Machines
University of Waterloo (Canada) computer game design researcher Kevin Harrigan, whose research has made headlines around the world, recently testified before the New Hampshire Gambling Study Commission to explain the software and design features of slot machines. Through Canada’s Freedom of Information Act, Dr. Harrigan obtained slot machine design documents, called PAR Sheets. Slot machine manufacturers commissioned an army of lawyers but failed to block Dr. Harrigan’s access to this information. Without losses disguised as wins and frequent near win displays, slot machines would not be profitable.
Harrigan presentation to the 2010 NH Gambling Commission
Slot Machines Near Misses Are Perfectly Tuned to Stoke the Addiction
The Discover Magazine blog helps explain the allure of slot machines and the difficulty that some gamblers have in walking away by highlighting that, to a gambler’s brain, a near miss provides almost the same high as a win.
Slot Machines Near Misses Are Perfectly Tuned to Stoke the Addiction
Inside a Slot Machine
Learn how a slot machine works by playing this one. The Las Vegas Sun developed this virtual slot machine to work just like one on the casino floor. Examine what goes on inside the machine and begin to understand why slots are the most extreme form of predatory gambling.
The New York Times Magazine Exposes Modern Slot Machines
This must-read New York Times Magazine cover story by Gary Rivlin exposes the slot machine business as predatory and deceptive.
2004 New York Times story on slots by Gary Rivlin
The Design of Slots and the Implications for Problem Gamblers
This research by Prof. Kevin A. Harrigan at the University of Waterloo examines characteristics of Ontario slots and what the implications are for problem gamblers, including analysis of the probability accounting reports (or PAR sheets) to see how the games are designed. One of their key findings include: “Bonus modes are highly salient environments associated with wins that are in the view of the gambler a very good place to be. Because entering these arousing and highly rewarding bonus environments is rare, only those who gamble frequently will become classically conditioned to these environments and experience the combined effects of operant and classical conditioning – a situation that could preferentially target problem gamblers.”
PAR Sheets, Probabilities and Slot Machine Play – Implications for Problem and Non-Problem Gambling
Having Multiple Versions of the Same Slot Machine Game May Impact Problem Gambling
In this paper, Harrigan and Dixon examine how the same slot machine games with different payback percentages may affect the player’s behavior. Interestingly, slot machines with higher payback percentages (offering a perceived air of fairness for the player: 98% vs. a lower payback of 85%), were more likely to impose the most risk for ensuing gambling problems. In their findings, they argue for the regulations of lower payback percentages (85%), as the higher ones appear to be far more addictive.
Slot Machines: Distorted Player Views of Payback Percentages
This paper by Prof. Kevin A. Harrigan at the University of Waterloo presents a sample three-reel three-coin slot machine game with a bonus for three coins, and a true payback percentage of 85.6% when one or two coins are wagered and 92.5% when three coins are wagered. The player sees the winning or losing combination of three symbols on the payline as well as (a) the physical reels as they scroll by and (b) what is just above and just below the payline at the end of play.
Slot Machine Structural Characteristics
Misrepresented Game Outcomes and Problem Gambling
This research by Prof. Kevin A. Harrigan at the University of Waterloo looked at how slot players’ perceptions were influenced by a technique that has been used since 1983 in North America, called “clustering.” By observing the player perceptions (the frustration effect, the perception of early wins, illusion of control, biased evaluation of outcomes, entrapment, and irrational thinking) as well as looking at transcripts from Nevada hearings where proponents were aware of the psychological effect on players from near misses and virtual reels, the researchers raise concerns over the connection with misrepresented game outcomes and problem gambling.
Slot Machines – Pursuing Responsible Gaming Practices for Virtual Reels and Near Misses
The Secrets of a Slot Machine
Dennis Bailey, the Executive Director of Maine’s Casinos No!, wrote the piece below which details how slot machines are heavily weighted in the casino’s favor.
New Facts About Video Poker Machines
Some states either have already legalized video poker machines in bars and restaurants or are pushing hard to do so. Here is some excellent information compiled by ILCAAP in Illinois about these highly predatory and addictive machines.
Instant Racing Machines Are Just Slots By Another Name
To circumvent existing state gambling laws, gambling interests are pushing “Instant Racing Machines” or what are also called “Historic Racing Machines.” They are simply just slots by another name. The short brief below includes an excerpt from a recent Wyoming Supreme Court decision opposing the machines.
By Misleading Players, Slot Machine Design Spurs Problem Gambling
This article explains how reel electronic gambling machines (EGMs) have been designed to mislead players and has directly contributed to the high rate of problem gambling: “Unbalanced reel design must be a major factor, if not the major factor, in the maintenance of problem gambling principally because the gambler unconsciously believes he or she cannot lose.” Unlike table games, EGMs offer widely different odds of winning, which the authors compare to loaded dice or rigged carnival games. “The fact that the players do not know the rules makes the reel gambling machine unique amongst gaming devices. Not only are the players ignorant of the rules but the rules vary from machine to machine and neither the gaming industry nor the regulators disclose them. As far as transparency is concerned, the standards applicable to reel gaming machines are totally out of step with all other forms of gaming.” The authors make a strong case for establishing uniform standards, banning biased, “virtually-mapped” reels on EGMs and providing more transparency regarding the player’s chances of winning. Unbalanced Reel Gambling Machines
The Effects of Video Poker in South Carolina
In 1997, Dr. Quinn founded the South Carolina Center for Gambling Studies and directed a statewide study of Video Poker’s impact on South Carolina. This study outlined the pattern of devastation Video Poker was having on average citizens and demonstrated the uniquely addictive nature of electronic gambling. Dr. Quinn’s study and a follow-up study with Dr. William Thompson of UNLV focusing on the economic impact of Video Poker in South Carolina, contributed greatly to demise of Video Poker in South Carolina.
Here are some key findings from the research:
1. The combination of electronic gambling and convenience venues is extremely addictive and destructive.
2. Minorities and women in particular appear disproportionately vulnerable to video poker.
3. People often gamble more often and/or longer when they are induced.
4. Sometimes people gamble and develop pathology because they have the opportunity.
5. The pathology associated with video poker, unlike other forms of gambling, may prove to be largely non-transferable.
6. The long term economic and social costs associated with gambling are often ignored by political processes obsessed with short term and visible financial gain.
Report of The Quinn-Pike Video Gaming Study
An Economic Analysis of Machine Gambling in South Carolina
Casinos Make Their Money From Slot Machines
Why do predatory gambling operators push slot machines over other forms of gambling? According to Casino Operations Management, a textbook written by Jim Kilby, Jim Fox and Anthony Lucas, a typical large casino receives 60-70% of their profits from slots and 15-20% from table games.
Slot Machine Profits Jump 70% In a Decade
According to Nevada Gaming Control Board statistics, there were about 197,000 slot machines in that state that won roughly $4.8 billion from gamblers in 1997. By 2007, the number of slot machines increased just 2.5 percent to 202,000, but the amount they won from gamblers jumped 72.9 percent to about $8.3 billion.
Back to School, Major in Slots
Near Misses Are Like Winning to Problem Gamblers
The brains of problem gamblers react more intensely to near misses than casual gamblers, new research from the University of Cambridge has found. The results help explain what keeps problem gamblers betting even though they keep losing.
Near Misses are like Winning to Problem Gamblers