Addiction By Design

[roguejuror]

Article in Vox.

Time on device

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. (Schll says the industry refers to this as the "Costco model" of gambling.) As such, slot machines are designed to maximize "time on device."

Multi line

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.
"Some players get so hooked by the flow of the game that they actually get annoyed when they win a jackpot"

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

That subtle advance, Schll says, has helped revolutionize the gambling industry. Fewer and fewer people are now going to casinos to experience the thrilling chance at a big jackpot.

Instead, for many of the people Schll interviewed, these slot machines have become a "gradual drip feed." They play because they enjoy being in the zone and losing themselves in the machine. Some players she talked to confessed that they actually get annoyed when they won a jackpot because it disrupted the flow of playing.

Pain point

Alternatively, Schll discovered, some video machines actually make internal adjustments if they notice that a player is on a losing streak and is reaching their "pain point." This has to be done carefully it's illegal for casinos to change the odds in a game once a player has started playing. But, she says, casinos can reduce the volatility of a game in a way that still preserves the overall payback percentage. That's technically still legal.

More... http://www.vox.com/2014/8/7/5976927/slot-machines-casinos-addiction-by-design

 

[Cami]

Alternatively, Schll discovered, some video machines actually make internal adjustments if they notice that a player is on a losing streak and is reaching their "pain point." This has to be done carefully — it's illegal for casinos to change the odds in a game once a player has started playing. But, she says, casinos can reduce the volatility of a game in a way that still preserves the overall payback percentage. That's technically still legal.

loops holing fokkers.

 

[IAG]

I completely agree/believe in that Pain Point "theory."

 

[reno cool]

eh, sounds misleading. I get annoyed when I have to wait for a hand pay on small jackpot that shouldn't be a hand pay. I might also bitch and moan when hitting a jackpot because that gives the opportunity after a bad losing stretch to say: So this motherfucking piece of shit is finally gonna pay something.

Whats happening here is the usual marketing cart leading the horse. The casinos as most big business are greedy, cheap bastards and they take no pride in providing a quality service. They look for ways to slowly squezze out more from patrons and cut corners until they ruin whatever good their industry once provided, ultimately killing their own industry and moving on to ruin another currently well functioning thing.

So casinos over the years went to lower and lower payback machines (and worse bargains on everything they offer). They went to fancy looking machines that play more like video games to make up for it. They're basically telling the gambler we don't want you. We want the most clueless inexperienced tourists who want to throw away their money. The public isn't making the choice to these machines. They are playing them because they are there.

Casinos have earned a customer base because at one point they offered good value. Now they are for the most part taking advantage of that. The idea that people want the garbage games because they inexplicably love them so much sounds nothing more than a rationalization.

 

[reno cool]

. Fewer and fewer people are now going to casinos to experience the thrilling chance at a big jackpot.

]

this just foking pisses me off. Of course slime ball. When the casino floor is filled with 80% payback machines that offer no jackpot, you cant go there for the jackpot :