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Near Misses Fuel The Fire

Is there anything as frustrating as playing a slot machine and experiencing a near miss? We’ve all been there – the reels spin and stop, and you realize that you were ONE symbol away from a huge jackpot. You curse the heavens, you wring your hands – and you quickly cast another bet, convinced that you are hot on the heels of Lady Luck. Even if we are not aware of it, near misses play a huge role in the process that can ultimately lead to problem gambling. A tiny but innovative study was published recently in the Neuron medical journal concerning the effect that slot game “almost-wins” have on the chemical pathways of the human brain.

In terms of chemical reactions, a near miss is almost as stimulating as a win. When this event takes place, researchers found, the so-called “reward region” of the brain (the insula and ventral striatum) floods with blood and triggers a release of the pleasure hormone dopamine. Accordingly, the player spins the reels again. One might say that they can’t help it – they are just wired that way. It’s “quite a paradoxical event,” says Luke Clark, a scientist who participated in the study of fifteen volunteer slot game players.

These punters were hooked up to fMRI machines and had their brain activity documented while they were playing slot games. Unlike the RNG-controlled specimens we play in casinos, the outcome of these machines’ spins were being controlled by a researcher. Notable dopamine release was recorded when near misses occurred, at levels very similar to ones that took place when a player actually won! Clark said that Vegas casino owners definitely know about this effect, and use it to their advantage, to keep players hooked.

Back to February 2009 Archive.