The Player and The Machine

Modern multiline video slots are popular games with high fidelity sounds and salient graphics, which allow players to wager on multiple lines at once. Interestingly, on multiline slots, many small wins actually amount to less than one's spin wager (e.g., bet a dollar and win back a quarter). These outcomes, however, are accompanied by flashing lines and winning sounds, disguising the negative gains that they truly are. Dixon, Harrigan, Sandhu, Collins, and Fugelsang (2010) termed these outcomes losses disguised as wins, or LDWs. Research has shown that players physiologically (Dixon et al., 2010), behaviourally (e.g., Dixon, Graydon, Harrigan, Wojtowicz, Siu, and Fugelsang, 2014a), and verbally (e.g., Jensen et al., 2013) miscategorize LDWs as wins rather than correctly categorizing LDWs as losses. We have also shown that LDWs lead players to overestimate how often they won during a playing session (e.g., Jensen et al., 2013), leading to what we referred to as a LDW-triggered win overestimation effect. In Chapter 2, we showed that a short educational animation could lead players to correctly categorize LDWs as losses, thus eliminating the LDW-triggered win-overestimation effect. In Chapter 3, using resistance to extinction paradigms, we showed that LDWs could behaviourally reinforce players, leading them to continue to gamble despite financial loss. In Chapter 4, we showed that LDWs could affect players' game preferences and game selection, leading them to choose games with LDWs over games without LDWs. We discuss that these results are disconcerting, because players choose games with reinforcing negative gains, which could lead to distorted memory of how much they won or lost, potentially leading to increased gambling despite financial loss - a hallmark of problem gambling. Finally we discuss future research on LDWs

The Convergence of Structure and Design Between Video Games and Video Gambling

This study looks at the incorporation of video game design and structure into contemporary slot machines. The investigation was guided by theoretical and empirical works from a range of scholarly fields: gambling studies, video-game studies, digital communication, psychology, and sociology. Two methodological designs were employed. The first phase used a content analysis that identified the distribution of video-game styles and design in the most recent slot games on display at a major industry conference. The second phase employed semi-structured interviews with both experienced and inexperienced slot players to assess the impact of different design elements on their playing experience and motivation to play. Findings indicate that current slot machines share some similarities with video game mechanics through the introduction of more complex structure and multiple goals or games within games. Slot machines can resemble the immersive elements video games with the use of sophisticated graphics and sound design as well as the incorporation of complex themes and interactive animated characters. Eight gamblers with experience ranging from novice to highly experience participated in in-depth interviews. The interviews suggest that, like with video game players, some slot players might be more attracted to complex game mechanics in slot machines while other players are more interested in the immersive elements. The implications for the future of slot machine design, the study of slot machine design on problem gambling, and the use of digital space to introduce play into gambling are discussed

Pathways to electronic gambling machine venues in New South Wales

This thesis identified the range of non-gambling activities within community gambling venues, and the factors that influence attendance and normalise venues in regional communities in NSW. This research is important in the development of a comprehensive public health approach to reduce gambling harm in community-based settings

The problem with ‘responsible’ gambling: Government, industry and consumer approaches

This project explored the impacts of a focus on personal responsibility in gambling discourses on people with experience of problem gambling using in-depth qualitative interviews. It examined the impact of discussions of ‘responsible gambling’ on problem gambling stigma, and the implications of this dominant view of gambling on policy