How Casinos Use Psychology to Keep You Playing

If you’ve ever been to a casino, you know how difficult it is to stop playing once you start. But why is it so hard to walk away from a machine even when you are losing? The answer is simple: casinos are designed to keep you playing.

Casinos have poured a lot of time and effort into human psychology, ensuring they design their casinos to keep you playing. Read on to discover all of the ways casinos “trick” you into playing long after you should have stopped.

1. There Are No Clocks

Humans are terrible at keeping time without clocks. And when there are no clocks to look at, individuals have no idea how long they have been playing—or how late it is. And considering most casinos are open late into the night, or 24/7 in Las Vegas, some people don’t realize they’ve played away the day until it is too late.

2. There Are No Windows

Casinos didn’t just stop at ridding the casino floor of visible clocks—they also ensure there are no windows so you can’t see how time is passing via the sun or outside light. With both of these taken away, most humans have no idea the time they are spending on the casino floor.

They are also unable to truly consider the opportunity cost of the time they spend playing because they don’t know how much time they’ve been playing.

**Do note that the “casinos pump in extra air” to keep players gambling is a casino myth.

3. The Way the Slot Machines Are Arranged

Yes, even the way the slot machines are arranged is designed to keep players playing. Not only are they designed in rows to allow people to feel they have a small bit of privacy, but they are also designed to be taller than the average human, ensuring you feel comfortable and safe as you play.

Combine this with the no windows, and people often feel at home in casinos—which is 100% by design, so you won’t feel like leaving.

Not only that, but the cashiers and ticket exchange machines are always far from the exit, ensuring you have to pass all the machines with a handful of cash as you exit.

4. Replacing Money With Credits and Chips

Most humans have a sentimental attachment to money, especially cash, and it can be hard to hand it over. Casinos know this, which is why all games, whether you play slots or table games, use chips or credits to represent money instead of actual dollar amounts.

You’ve seen it yourself, machines are labeled “penny slots” only for you to deposit a dollar, receive 100 credits, and be told that it is 25 credits a spin. But you’ve already put the money in so you spin anyway. Regardless, casinos know this, which is why they use things like “penny slots” to attract players, even when you will 100% end up spending far more than a penny.

And it doesn’t end there, when you play at a table, you swap your cash for chips. This removes the human attachment to the cash, so when you lose, you are less able to gauge how much is lost—which is also why casino chips are all the same size with the denomination simply printed on them—to further the disconnect. You might be losing $5 or $20, but you won’t set off the same bells in your mind because you are disconnected from the fact that the chips are the money you were so tempted to hand over.

All this to say, casinos use chips and credits to keep you playing longer because your brain isn’t really sure how much money it lost.

5. Giving Out Freebies

This one is a hard one, but casinos give out free things to keep you gambling/keep you on site. They do it because it has a net profit for the casinos—not because the items are actually free.

For example, the most common thing gifted is freeplay—which people accept thinking that casinos want you to win. Wrong. Casinos give out freeplay because they know 95% of customers will put additional cash into the machine, leaving them with a profit off of something they gave for free.

Another freebie is free drinks while gaming in Las Vegas. While this practice is slowly disappearing, it is still available in some casinos. The free drinks might sound too good to be true, and they kind of are for the following reasons:

·      The free drinks are small and you can only order one at a time

·      There is usually only one cocktail waitress and she moves slowly

·      You are encouraged to tip on the drinks

·      The drinks are often the wells/inexpensive brands

Basically, if you read this list, all the casinos do by offering free drinks is encourage you to keep gaming. Their hope is that you will put in more money even after you are done, for the purpose of getting a “free drink.” If that weren’t enough, they know that drinking lowers inhibitions, which is why they continue to offer more—not only are you staying in their casino, but the more intoxicated you get, the more you will bet per spin.

While there are other freebies offered (such as rooms, massages, and dinner discounts/gift cards), know that everything a casino gives is because they want you to keep gaming—not because they are just “nice.”

7. Making It Look Like You Almost Won

Yes, casino machines are programmed to make it look like you almost won. Humans naturally like patterns and like to look for patterns in life—and casinos know this. They know that if they show you that you almost won 10x, you will think you are close to winning and keep playing.

This same psychology is used with machines, which show the programmed cumulative jackpot above the machine. The numbers are so high, people think they will win “anytime now” and are willing to put large amounts of money in the machine.

In either case, winning is often not near, and most players play far beyond their budget or time limit, chasing the “almost win” which flashed on the machine.