According to this Washington Post story, a new report reveals that slot machines are manufactured to trick players. The machines often use positive reinforcement, in the form of celebratory sounds, to convince gamblers they have won when they are actually losing their money.
Predatory Business Practices
Facebook online casinos entice young people to gamble
The UK’s MailOnline reports online gambling giant 888 has struck a lucrative deal with Facebook to offer Las Vegas-style slot machines and other games funded by credit and debit card transactions up to £500 (roughly US $761). Facebook and its gambling partners have been training youth with slot and bingo-style games. The Mail quotes Mark Griffiths, professor of gambling studies at Nottingham Trent University citing research showing that playing free games online is a big factor in developing problem gambling. He warned the new apps will open the floodgates as “gambling companies dive into the social media frenzy to make money. It is thought Facebook will take a 30 percent cut of all bets placed.”
These free games are available to US customers as well. Online game giant Zynga for months has featured intrusive popups and ads pushing their slots and poker games in their ubiquitous “Words with Friends” blockbuster game.
Social network is tempting young to gamble with new betting games
Exploiting the Neuroscience of Internet Addiction
In this article the relationship between neuroscience and internet gambling is explained. The article delineates how much of what we do online releases dopamine into the brain’s pleasure centers, resulting in obsessive pleasure-seeking behavior. Technology companies face the option to exploit our addictions for profit.
Facebook ‘creating a generation of gambling addicts because of site’s Las Vegas style games’
Facebook has been accused of turning youngsters into gambling addicts with an explosion of Las Vegas-style casino games on the social networking site. Children are using ‘virtual coins’ to simulate the thrill of hitting the jackpot with slot machine and roulette games on their home computers and mobile phones. Zynga, which accounts for 12 per cent of all Facebook’s revenues due to its popular games such as FarmVille, launched Zynga Slots in the UK last month. Although these games are free, addiction experts have warned the games encourage teenagers to think gambling is harmless fun.
Facebook ‘creating a generation of gambling addicts because of site’s Las Vegas style games’
Lotteries seeking ways to sell lottery tickets at ATM machines
State lotteries are constantly looking for new ways to get citizens to lose more money more frequently. Below is a Request for Proposals issued by the Minnesota Lottery to review methods to sell lottery tickets at ATM machines.
Lotteries seeking ways to sell lottery tickets at ATM machines
University research outlines the dangers of slot machines
The Carleton University Gambling Laboratory, a think-tank deciphering what makes gamblers keep coming back, says slot machines are nearly four times more addictive than regular card tables. Head researcher, Prof. Michael Wohl, said that’s because players can sit for long periods of time in a relatively low-stress situation and can cash in their winnings without leaving their seats. It’s also due to grave misconceptions about how slot machines work.
“A lot of people think that every time you spin a slot machine you’re getting closer and closer to a win,” Dr. Wohl explains. But that’s simply not the case, he says. He describes them as a mixed bag of marbles. Within it, there’s one “jackpot” marble combined with hundreds of losses. When you play a machine, one of those losses falls out of the bag. But what many people don’t understand is before your very next spin, that dud marble goes right back into the bag. The odds of winning or losing are always exactly the same.”
According to the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse, 80% of problem gamblers in Ontario cite slot machines as their problem. The largest percentage are seniors and low-income earners.
Online lottery sales, meant to draw in younger gamblers, draw opposition
Lotteries tell the public “people are gambling anyway” but there is no question that lotteries are actively targeting and creating new gamblers to get them to lose their money. In this story, the Maine Lottery Director describes the strategy: “While our lottery revenue generation is doing reasonably well, our consumer or customer head count participation is flat to slightly down….the lottery needs to bolster sales to the “Generation Y” segment of the population, 18-to 30-year-olds that embrace the Internet.”
Online lottery sales, meant to draw in younger gamblers, draw opposition
In-play betting ads ‘encourage children to gamble’
Various gambling bodies have been recently reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority for encouraging children to gamble. In this article the issue in England is highlighted with various advertisements centered around ‘in-play’ betting, targeting the younger demographic.
Casino giant IGT launches popular slot machine on Facebook
In an effort to encourage more young people to lose money gambling on the Internet, International Gaming Technology has launched its Da Vinci Diamonds slot machine, which can be found in casinos across the country, as a Facebook game, as if it were Farmville or Words With Friends.
2012 Casino giant IGT goes social, launches Vegas slot machine favorite on Facebook
A look at “The Profit Optimization suite” software used by casinos to squeeze the maximum amount of money out of customers
This article provides a window into how casinos like Caesars squeeze the maximum revenue out of customers. The software described here has increased Caesars revenue by $50 million per month (even while room occupancy rate actually declines.) The article concludes: “Filthy, you say? Maybe so. But Rainmaker has more than two dozen customers in the casino business so it’s not out of the question that the company has helped customers to the tune of billions of dollars.”
A look at “The Profit Optimization suite” software used by casinos to squeeze the maximum profits