[ Home ]

[ Slots News ]

Slots Designed to Be Addictive

It’s a sad fact, but slot machines are really designed to be addictive. By now, it’s well-known that actual slot games have a high potential for addiction, regardless of the psychology of the player in question. The flashing lights, festive sounds, and repetitive appeal of a slot machine does something to the impulse center of the normal human brain. You may not know, however, that modern-day slots are actually designed to be addictive.

Almost a quarter-century ago, a very wise man changed the world of slot machine play forever. In 1984, years and years before online slots, Inge Telnaes studied the behavior of slot game players and made an adaptation to slot machines that is still in effect today. The Nevada inventor figured that gamblers would be more apt to play the same slot title over and over again if they had the impression that they were close to a win. So, he inserted a microchip in his slot machines that made the payline appear with a blank more often than a winning symbol. The outcomes of the slot rolls were still random, but, now, players would often feel that they had narrowly missed a jackpot… inspiring them to put more money in the machine and play some more!

Luckily, many of us can use our logic and common sense to avoid being suckered into a slot machine addiction. We know that we must limit the amount of money we spend on online slots or at casino slot games, or place a time limit on the amount of play that we allow ourselves. Not everyone is so rational, however. The international gambling community acknowledges that compulsive slot machine playing is a problem, and does not encourage this habit, even if it would make them more money.

Back to September 2008 Archive.