Either way, you’re just close to hitting.
How do you understand gambling – they are “games of chance” , providing fun and random luck? Then you are as naive as most people, thinking that you participate in a certain type of gambling just for fun, for money or like the thrill it brings.
But Mike Robinson, an associate professor of psychology at Wesleyan University, USA, doesn’t think so. With 15 years of experience studying how addictive factors affect the brain, he understands that gambling contains sinister traps.
For the most part, game makers and designers know how to trap you into a spiral of addiction. And once addicted, gambling becomes mandatory.
What makes some people gamble even when they are no longer having fun? Why do people still try to play when they know the game is designed just for them to lose? Are some people more unlucky when it comes to gambling than others, or are they simply worse off?
Turns out, everything from gambling to games like Candy Crush is being built on a dark science. Now, Robinson will help you decipher those:
Uncertainty creates a reward that plays an important role in the allure of gambling.
One of the hallmarks of gambling is that uncertainty – whether it’s the size of the jackpot or its probability of winning – is all uncertain. Uncertainty creates a reward that plays an important role in the allure of gambling.
It involves dopamine, the neurotransmitter released by the brain during pleasurable activities, from eating to sex to drug use. In situations where reward is uncertain, dopamine is also released by the brain.
The release of dopamine is especially increased during moments when players expect an unlikely reward they will receive. This effect explains why the release of dopamine is associated with the “high” of gambling and also the severity of an individual’s gambling addiction. It also plays a role in reinforcing risky betting behaviour.
Studies show that dopamine is released during gambling in brain regions similar to drug abuse. In fact, repeated exposure to gambling and uncertain rewards produces long-term changes in the human brain, similar to what drugs do.
These reward pathways become sensitized, similar to those found in drug addicts. Animal studies show that changes in the brain caused by uncertainty can even increase a gambler’s cravings and cravings for drugs.
And yet, repeated gambling exposure to uncertainty can even change how you react to a losing outcome.
The paradox is that, for gamblers, losing and losing money triggers a release of dopamine almost equal to when they win. As a result, losing is more fun for a gambler than leaving the slot machine or getting up from the hoe.
Sounds and lights in the gambling environment can also make you play longer.
But gambling goes beyond winning and losing. The environment with a series of flashing lights and loud sounds can also make you completely immersed in the role of a gambler. This is especially true in a bustling casino. But even a video game or gambling app on your phone will lure you in with lots of cumbersome sounds and visuals.
Are manufacturers really just doing this for style? Studies show that the lights and sounds commonly found in gambling environments become more engaging and more likely to prompt gamblers to play when they are associated with reward uncertainty.
In particular, the winning signals – such as slamming bells of equal length for each bonus level that do the same thing as the size of the jackpot – both increase the excitement of the gambler and make They are more optimistic about winning.
Importantly, the sounds and lights in the gambling environment can also make you play longer and encourage you to bet bigger and more.
These new style slot machines create more enjoyment and are more popular with players.
Over the past few decades, casinos and game manufacturers have significantly upgraded their slot machines. Slot machines have had their old mechanical arms and reels removed in favor of electronic versions.
These new computer-based games offer more colorful lights and sounds. They also have more reels, ushering in a new era of multi-slot slots.
There are many slots that allow players to place a range of different bets per spin, often up to 20 or more selections. Although the stakes can be small, many players bet the maximum amount per spin.
This strategy means that players can win in some categories, while losing in others, the real profit is even lower than in traditional play.
Even if you “win”, you don’t actually profit, a phenomenon known as “losing in disguise of winning” . However, because there have been victories, even if it is a victory in disguise, it is still accompanied by the light and sound of victory.
As a result, these new style slot machines create more enjoyment and are more popular with players. The important thing is that machines now tend to make gamblers overestimate their true winning frequency.
A significant increase in the frequency of wins, whether real or virtual, creates more stimulation and activates reward pathways in the brain, accelerating the rate at which changes occur in the brain as analyzed above.
New-style slot machines with multiple doors also promote the development of “dark flow”. In it, players are sucked into a game for hours, they continuously win “virtual” (for example, put 20 coins to win 15 coins) until they lose completely. The dark flow gives the feeling of being continuously paid, despite the fact that the player is constantly losing money.
The near-hit effect is more stimulating than a mere defeat.
The popularity of electronic slots also means that results can be programmed on virtual reels, not restricted by the physical arrangement of the reels on each reel. As a result, game designers can make certain outcomes happen more often than others.
This includes near-hits, where a reel stops just before or right after it lines up into a jackpot. Near-hits activate an area of the brain that normally responds to a real win, increasing players’ desire to make them play more. This is especially true for people addicted to gambling.
The near-hit phenomenon does not only appear in slot machines or in casinos. Addictive mobile video games, such as Candy Crush, apply near-hit effects.
The near-hit effect is more stimulating than a simple loss – it is both frustrating and more comforting than a sure loss. But basically, the feeling of being close to victory triggers an urge more than actually winning.
Closer to hit causes players to be more eager and bet more in the game, and they also spend more time in the game than they intended. The dopamine response to a near-miss is in fact also associated with an individual’s level of gambling addiction.
Every game of chance is designed with an appeal that keeps players hooked for longer.
When it comes to gambling for fun, you’re not simply playing against the odds. You also have to fight an enemy created in the art of deception and cunning.
Every game of chance is designed with an appeal that keeps players hooked for longer, and even when they run out of money and leave, they think they’ve done better than the chance they got.
For many people, these carefully orchestrated and designed outcomes still keep them happy and content to play with. Despite running out of money, the gambler still left without thinking.
But gambling is more than just the promise of good fortune, that at some point you will hit a jackpot. Surveys in the US show that up to 2% of the population addicted to gambling suffer from a mental health problem.
Gambling addiction became the most common, among the few addictions that did not involve the consumption of substances. Like other forms of addiction, gambling disorder is a lonely and isolated experience. It is associated with increased anxiety, and a higher risk of suicide by gamblers.
For individuals sensitive to gambling, the hook that the game designers have created is really too sinister. And what is the solution to this dilemma? It is still in the endless spinning of the slot machines.