On the face of it, it seems like a hard sell to get millions of people to part with vast amounts of their hard-earned cash with just a hint of ever getting any of it back. But since casinos are able to do it at increasing amounts every year, the question is, how?
Well, a lot of it comes down to design – casinos are designed to put visitors in a trance-like state where the bright lights, lack of natural daylight and absence of clocks keep them lulled into continually pulling out their wallets. There’s a lot that goes into insulating gamblers from consciousness: Music, for example, is purposefully reminiscent of supermarket Muzak, made up of mind-numbing top-40 pop and played on a continuous loop. Free drinks – alcoholic or not – and free snacks are another way to keep gamblers happy, contented, and ponying up the cash. Loyalty programs for frequent gamblers include free stays in hotels, free cruises, even hundreds of dollars staked by the casino to the gambler, keeping that gambler coming back time after time. [Image courtesy of PalmTreeWelder.]
But casinos have a few more tricks up their sleeves, ones that most people might not even know about.
The Thrill of Almost Winning
Close, they say, only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. But what about in casinos? According to some reports, near-misses are frequently programmed into slot machines, egging the gambler on and encouraging a sense of control in what is an essentially uncontrollable circumstance.
“A near-miss causes a gambler to over-estimate their chances of winning,” Dr. Luke Clark, a Cambridge University psychologist told the BBC newsmagazine in a 2006 article on casino psychology. “If their horse finishes second, or in a casino they watch two cherries come up on a slot machine and then see the third almost click into place, they’ll keep playing. A problem gambler will keep playing for a third as long again.”
Familiarity Breeds Revenue
Familiarity may breed contempt, but it also, it seems, breeds slot machine revenue. Slot machines, or “fruit machines” as they’re so quaintly called in the UK, rely on familiar faces, names, places, televisions shows and games to lure in gamblers. For example, popular slot machines at the Hard Rock Casinos in Ft. Lauderdale include Wheel of Fortune and Who Wants to be a Millionaire?; one of the most popular fruit machines in UK casinos feature characters from The Simpsons. Casinos across the globe use slot machines that evoke some sort of positive, preferably money-making association for the gambler: The Beverly Hillbillies, Cleopatra, Elvis, I Dream of Jeannie, Jeopardy!, The Price is Right, and even Tabasco (yes, as in the condiment that makes everything good) have all appeared on slot machines.
Familiarity is not only useful in getting gamblers to step up to the slots, it’s also useful in keeping them playing – people are more likely to continue to play a complicated slot machine game if they feel comfortable with it and the images it uses.
The Sweet Smell of Success
Casinos also use what’s called sensory marketing—employing subtle tactile, auditory or olfactory cues to keep gamblers happy. While the rumor that casinos pump in extra oxygen into their rarified gambling atmosphere to induce positive feelings and alertness is still just a rumor, some casinos do, however, use pleasant smells around gambling areas. Think walking by a bakery, with the delicious scent of fresh-baked bread wafting out onto the sidewalk – make no mistake, that’s intentional.
Studies have shown that when a pleasant smell was sprayed on a certain area of slot machines in Harrah’s Las Vegas casino, revenue from those machines was on average 45 percent higher than revenue from odorless machines. Following that study, other casinos moved to try introducing scents, including the Hilton in Las Vegas, which also reported higher revenues from scented slot machines. According to some reports (the BBC, for example), US casinos have also used “pheromones” to promote gambling, but that claim, just like the extra oxygen, remains a rumor.
Sound It Out
While some casinos do use music to help lull gamblers into a trance-like state, nearly all casinos use sound in general as a way to imply a lucky atmosphere, so to speak: Basically, the only sounds you hear in a casino are the sounds of winning. Slot machines, for example, are rigged up to make very loud noises when someone wins; it’s not only the ringing bells, the joyous (if ring tone-y) music, it’s also the loud sound of coins hitting the metal tray. (As an aside, some casinos are sadly doing away with coin-operated slot machines all together. Slot machines at the Hard Rock Casino in Ft. Lauderdale, for example, spit out printed slips of paper that can be redeemed for money at various ATM-like kiosks positioned around the slot pit. The benefit for the casino is clear: While you no longer have the satisfying sound of change hitting a metal tray ringing through the slot pit, you do have people pumping greater amounts of money into the machines at each play.)
Essentially, casino design all comes down to fostering an environment conducive to happily losing money – and that environment is mind-numbingly frenetic, right down to the ugliness of the carpets. It’s like a magic trick: Using a surfeit of sensations – the sounds, lights, mirrors, colors – casinos induce a sense of disorientation and over-stimulation. That’s the misdirection. Your only lifeline in this sea of dynamic madness is the game in front of you, so you keep playing, putting in dollar after dollar, laying down chip after chip. And that’s the trick.
Comments (18)
Comment
- subscribe /
- give a gift /
- terms of service /
- about /
- contact us /
- write for us /
- ad info /
- subscriber services /
- press /
- privacy policy /
- rss /
© 2012 Mental Floss Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mental Floss is a registered trademark owned by Felix Dennis. mentalfloss.com is a trademark owned by Felix Dennis.
Disclaimer: All submissions made to mental_floss become the property of Mental Floss Inc and may be used without further permission by the submitter and without compensation to the submitter. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not submit anything to mental_floss.
My husband and I spent a few days in Vegas last fall and did not gamble at all, although of course we had to walk through casinos everywhere we went. My father-in-law spent years working in Atlantic City, so we know a little too much to be taken in. I had thought of maybe spending $10 or $20 just to entertain myself, but honestly, there’s enough to do in Vegas without gambling, and we were never that bored.
posted by Tina on 1-23-2009 at 8:30 pm
Red walls somehow make you loose track of time, which is why you’ll find that a lot of bars and casinos have red walls.
posted by Sara on 1-23-2009 at 9:35 pm
I cannot make myself like gambling. Every loss is so frustrating to me and I don’t think I’ll win on the next spin, I think I’ll lose on the next spin, so why bother. I just don’t enjoy it.
posted by Karen on 1-23-2009 at 10:14 pm
I have several good casino stories…
Best college class I ever had was an upper level math class where we went to one of the casinos on the Mississippi Gulf coast. We were allowed to use one of the craps tables at the Isle of Capri to do experiments comparing theoretical payback rates. Only drawback was that I was the only one under 21 in the class (which required I get a special waiver to just be on the faming floor) and thus wasn’t entitled to the free drinks the rest of the class was given. One woman who had never been in a casino before decided to try her luck on slots (in spite of the preceeding lecture we had on slots odds) and won a couple of hundred dollars on her third pull.
posted by Tom on 1-23-2009 at 10:30 pm
I went into one of the smaller casinos in Tunica, MS just to see what it was like. It felt like being in a video game arcade where nobody was having fun. People just kept shoveling money into the machines, but none them seemed to be having any fun.
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 1-23-2009 at 11:49 pm
I agree with PartiallyDeflected, people don’t really seem to be having fun.
posted by Arne on 1-24-2009 at 7:57 am
I grew up in Vegas, and don’t gamble at all. But I have to say that casinos can have their uses. Playing slots was a great way to have a date. You could take $20 and sit and play slots together, have a nice conversation, while being entertained by the gambling. And they brought you drinks too. Cheaper than the movies, and a better opportunity to really get to know the other person.
(Happily married now, and avoiding casinos.)
posted by Vegas Girl on 1-24-2009 at 9:55 am
I’m not that big on gambling, it seems like a waste of money to me, but I got married in Vegas, and they say a woman in a wedding dress is a good luck symbol… I won $200 in nickels on my wedding night. Oh, and I got lucky too.
posted by Marion on 1-24-2009 at 10:01 am
The familiarity breeds revenue rings true for me (but probably not as true as the casino would’ve liked since I’m such a miser). The very first slot machine I ever played: a Jeopardy! one. I even have a picture of it since I’d never gambled before then. I allotted $5 to my night at the casino (lost it all and haven’t been back).
posted by catherine ann on 1-24-2009 at 10:58 am
PartiallyDeflected ~
Being from Memphis, I’m just about half hour from Tunica and can attest to it being an excruciatingly depressing place. I’m not sure of the particulars but the revenue from the casinos doesn’t seem to be of much benefit to Tunica itself, which is the poorest county in MS. I remember being there once and seeing the line at the check cashing window: several wheelchairs and an old man with one arm. Kinda heart-wrenching and I don’t even have a heart!
posted by Amanda H. on 1-24-2009 at 1:07 pm
I actually have fabulous luck in casinos. Mu husband and I ran off to Vegas at 19 and got married. I won over $200 on a Monopoly slot machine. When we went back for our 5th anniversary (legal this time!) I won $435 on the first machine in the first 10 minutes we got there. I am also some kind of craps luck bringer because we won well over $700 in our two nights there. I must say that I can’t spend more than a couple of hours in a casino, I find them quite depressing in Vegas, and they kinda start to creep me out after a while. But we always have a great time and pay for out trip and then some!
posted by Amanda on 1-24-2009 at 2:13 pm
Plus, there are no clocks on the walls, no windows, and crazy patterned carpets to keep you from finding lost chips.
posted by Kathe on 1-25-2009 at 11:35 am
I go to the Tunica casinos just about every other weekend, but the ones I visit are limited. I only go to 2 regularly, eventhough there are 9 only minutes apart. On a good night I can play for 8 hours on $20 and have a good meal while there.
My current favorite machine is the Monopoly “Party Train”, it’s just something about the Monopoly man dancing to Party Train by the Gap Band that hooks you :)
posted by Keltharocka on 1-25-2009 at 8:38 pm
I read somewhere that the carpets are nauseatingly ugly and the ceilings are mind-numbingly boring to leave you one place to look… straight ahead to the machines.
RECAPTCHA:
suppress $20
Fabulous.
posted by Kevin on 1-26-2009 at 9:38 am
Everybody mentioned the free drinks, but nobody mentioned the second (more subtle) psychological trick. Ever notice how quickly a cocktail waitress takes your order, but how long it takes her to get back? You end up feeling trapped wherever you’re waiting for your “free” drink, so you just keep gambling.
Also, my wife is a phenom on the penny and nickel slots. She only plays low-stakes slots and never puts up more than $20 at a time, but she always wins enough for me to lose at video poker.
posted by Pete on 1-26-2009 at 9:58 am
Just after the Venetian opened, I was walking by a set of progressives that hadn’t ever been played, the jackpot was at $1000 even. I decided to try my luck and put in $3.
I played the max….. and won the jackpot on that one spin :-D… Hopefully, I will have similar luck when we go back in a few weeks, ha.
I have generally had fairly good luck with slots. I would win enough to cash out and, (before the machines spit out receipts to be redeemed) while I was waiting for them to come validate my win and fetch my money, I would play the machine next to it… more often than not, I would win enough to cash out there also and have to wait again.
I don’t really play slots anymore when I go because I have my son with me and I don’t really have anyone to watch him so I can get on the gaming floor… but, more importantly, I don’t have the money to lose because I always accept that I will lose it and play only for the fun of playing the ones with bonus games and all that fun stuff.
posted by Sarah in CA on 1-26-2009 at 11:04 am
My brother and my best friend are both very good gamblers. It might help that their both math whizzes and can calculate their odds in their head. Neither one of them counts cards, but I think the fact that they both look at it through analytical eyes helps. My brother plays poker at a local casino and frequently wins hundreds to thousands on a trip. My best friend went to Vegas a few years ago and was able to pay for her entire trip (for 5 people) and all of their souvenirs with her winnings. They just don’t let themselves spend more than a predetermined amount, and if things don’t go their way and they’ve lost what they said they were going to spend they just pack up and go home. Sadly, not everyone has that kind of will power. I can go to a casino with $40 in my pocket and never hit an ATM while my boyfriend will take out a huge wad of money and go back for more.
posted by Jen on 1-26-2009 at 1:01 pm
One time I went to vegas and lost all I had except for my bus ticket…..be careful not to spend it all in the casinos
posted by guillermo b on 2-26-2010 at 10:47 pm