Henderson 1
Brette Henderson
Ted Gournelos
Mass Communications 10
31 July 2007
The Slot Machine: The Elderly “Friend”
Target: Slot Machines, Perspective: Contextual
Casinos across the United States attract people of all ages. Most of the skill-based,
competitive tables (blackjack, poker, and craps) are comprised of a wide span of age groups
within the casinos; however, the same cannot be said for slot machines. These machines are
solely based on luck; since they do not require the same skill and quick mental tasks that the
tables do, the elderly are easily attracted to them. As a result, casino managers and companies
that produce slot machines target this demographic by providing services and incentives to lure
the elderly in. This paper will discuss the growing success of the gambling industry and the rise
of the slot machine in America’s casinos. An idea of why slot machines are continuing to
prosper will be made clear through an analysis of the elderly population, the gaming strategies
employed by machine producers, and the psychological focuses of casino and machine design,.
The elderly, many of whom are retired, are increasingly seeking new forms of
socialization in their later years. With advancements in medicine, men and women alike are
living longer and thus have more free time after retirement. Those who have outlived their
partners are often further isolated and lonely, which drives them to seek a community. With
increased age usually comes decreased ability to reason speedily.1 (This is part of what lures the
elderly to slot machines rather than the more challenging table games.) Aged men and women
1
For more about aging and intelligence, see Myers pp. 128-129.
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are regularly looking for ways to feel young again, but are often incapable of the activities that
young populations engage in.
Thus, casinos become a place where elderly people can simultaneously relive the
excitement of their youth without challenging their aging bodies and minds.2 This act of escape
is what keeps older men and women coming back again and again.3 Naturally, casinos and
producers of slot machines have responded to this rising demographic. Slot machines are now
developed in ways that attract the elderly and keep them gambling. It has become more and
more common for manufacturers to design their games directly for this population, particularly
for women who are over 55 (because they generally have substantial free time and disposable
income) (Rivlin 3). Machines are often reminiscent of once popular television shows, such as “I
Dream of Jeannie,” “The Price is Right,” and “Wheel of Fortune.”4 Technology has enabled
quality music, visual stimulation, and recorded voices to become an alluring aspect of the game.
Winning is dramatized by artificial sounds of dropping money in a process known as “rollup”
(Slot Machine). Consequently, elderly people are not only attracted to winning money, but are
equally attracted to entertainment and to engaging in a piece of their past.5
Like the slots themselves, the casinos are also specifically designed to prevent the elderly
from wanting to leave. The common layout of a casino floor places similar machines and tables
2
A study conducted by the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania conducted a
random survey of 843 senior citizens, and found that in the last year 70 percent of them had participated in some
gambling activity. (ABC News: Jackpots Hard to Resist for Some Elderly; Experts Suggest Getting Active to Battle
Addiction).
3
Rina Gupta, an educational and counseling psychology professor, when discussing why the elderly use the
machines puts it this way: “it’s a chance to feel alive again, deal with loneliness and loss, and it brings them back to
the days when they were young.” (Katz).
4
Examples of these slots can be found on page 6 [Diagram A].
5
Dave Forshey, a graphic designer at I.G.T. discusses how slot machine design enforces this idea: “It’s not just push
the red button and watch the wheels spin. Make people want to sit there. Use sight and sound and everything at our
disposal to get people’s juices going.”
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near one another. Slot machines are usually the easiest to access (as they are often placed near
entrances and ATM machines6), and thus are readily available for a less mobile population. The
separation of slot machines and competitive tables also encourages an aging population to stick
to chance machines where they will be surrounded by others of similar age (because the youth
population flocks toward the tables). A further breakdown within the slot machine area of the
floor departmentalizes the penny, nickel, quarter, and dollar machines. The elderly are then
strategically attracted to the penny and nickel machines because they believe that by using these
machines, their risk for losing money is smaller. Ironically, Nigel Turner, a scientist at the
Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, states that it is actually the opposite: “The
truth is, nowadays you can lose more money faster on a nickel slot machine than at a $10
blackjack table” (Rivlin 7).
Consequently, the elderly are choosing to sit at machines that maximize returns for both
slot machines and casinos. For this reason, the gaming industry is increasingly providing
incentives for older men and women to come use their machines. Oxygen-tank refills and heart
defibrillators are offered inside many casinos, further targeting those whom are already their
primary users (Rivlin 3). Additionally, in cities like San Diego and Phoenix where Indian
Casinos are becoming progressively more common, the facilities are placed near retirement
communities.7 Shuttles are also provided from these communities to the casinos in order to
eliminate the issue of transportation that could restrain the older population from coming.
Furthermore, these services attract the elderly with free meals and encourage them to return by
creating the opportunity for companionship that the casinos and slot machines provide (Katz).
I observed this trend in placement upon visiting two of South Lake Tahoe’s most prominent casinos: The Horizon
Casino Resort and Harrah’s Casino
7
See Rivlin, for more information. As a native San Diego resident, I am aware of four Indian casinos located within
twenty minutes of my home (which is located within a large retirement suburban area).
6
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Companionship is observed at its highest point when a person has hit a winning combination on
a machine. At these moments the elderly support one another and increase the feeling of
community within the casino.
All the factors mentioned thus far – entertainment, incentives, and location – have a
significant impact on the success of slot machines relative to elderly players; however, perhaps
the strongest, most positive correlation between older generations and slot machines is rooted in
the growing fields of technology and psychology. As put by a professor of psychiatry at the
University of Connecticut, “The slot machine is brilliantly designed from a behavioral
psychology perspective.”8 Advancements in technology have enabled slot machine producers to
integrate psychological theories into their models. Slot machines are now designed so that
reinforcers are unpredictable: payouts occur on a variable-ratio schedule9 that encourages what
psychologists call the “near-miss” phenomenon. A game designer at I.G.T. says, “You want the
player to have the feeling… ‘I’ll get it next time.’” (Rivlin 6).
The “near-miss” idea is also employed in the technology of the three-dial machines (Most
standard slot machines have a three-dial feature where each dial spins and stops independently of
the other two).10 Thousands of combinations are possible and game designers have used
computers to program “near-miss” combinations at each machine in order to keep people
hooked. Examples of these “near-miss” combinations include two out of three lineups (such as
7-7-BAR) and winning combinations just one notch above or below the playing line (this is why
Nancy Petry goes on to say “The people who are making these machines are using all the behavioral techniques to
increase the probability that the behavior of gambling will reoccur.” (Rivlin 7).
9
A more detailed account of reinforcement schedules can be found in David Myers’ Exploring Psychology (p. 236).
10
An example of the three-dial can be found on page 6 [Diagram B].
8
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the dial windows show half of the row above and half of the row below to the players).11
Designers know that the elderly are particularly vulnerable to these psychological tactics.
Because technological advancements have occurred predominantly in the last 20 years, the
opportunities that they allow in slot machines are often overlooked by older generations. The
lever on a slot machine still exists, but its purpose is to encourage the timeless components of the
slot machine and to discourage the realization that a computer now controls the device.12 As a
result of successful technological manipulation, elderly slot machine users are optimistic about
their chances of winning. This unseen manipulation facilitates the belief among the elderly that
chances of winning are greater than they actually are; this, in turn, keeps them at the machine for
longer periods of time and causes more money to be lost.
Producers of casinos and slot machines are not concerned with the ethical implications of
their motives; rather, they are interested in the quickest route to profit. The elderly are common
victims of gaming industry manipulation; thus, they are the easiest to target for increasing profit.
As the casino environment works to promote a sense of community, technology and psychology
allow designers of slot machines to create a false sense of hope: these components work together
to provide the elderly with an “oasis of positive escape” through the use of slot machines. What
producers of these machines see (that older men and women do not), is that this “escape,” in
reality, is a well-planned trap.
11
I personally visited Horizon Casino in South Lake Tahoe to play a slot machine and calculate the near-misses. I
was at the machine for roughly an hour, and out of the 217 times I pulled the lever, 98 of them were near misses.
12
Slot machines now have buttons that electronically serve the same function that the lever used to perform;
however, levers are often still built into new machines.
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[Diagram A]
[Diagram B]
Henderson 7
Works Cited
Henrikson, Alicia. “Gambling Habit on Rise among America’s Elderly.” Journal-World 4
February 2005. 28 July 2007 <http://6news.ljworld.com/section/gambling/story/195229>.
“Jackpots Hard to Resist for Some Elderly.” ABC News 25 July 2007. 28 July 2007
<http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=3412323&page=1>.
Katz, Helena. “Casino Excitement Attracts the Elderly.” McGill Reporter. Burnside Hall,
Montreal, Quebec. 9 March 2000: 32.12. 28 July 2007
<http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/32/12/gupta/>.
Myers, David G.. “Learning: Reinforcement Schedules.”Exploring Psychology. Ed.
Kevin Feyen. Worth Publishers: New York, NY, 2007. 236.
Rivlin, Gary. “The Chrome-Shiny, Lights-Flashing, Wheel-Spinning, Touch-Screened,
Drew-Carey-Wisecracking, Video-Playing, ‘Sound Events’ – Packed, Pulse-Quickening
Bandid.” The New York Times 9 May 2004: Section 6, Page 42, Column 1.
“Slot Machine.” Wikipedia. July 2007. 28 July 2007
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slot_machine>.
Henderson 8
Brette –
It’s always hard for me to regrade a paper, especially without writing on it directly, but I’ll try
my hardest. Several things come to mind when reading this piece. First is that you’d have been
better off choosing a specific place for your analysis rather than a concept or product (i.e. elderly
gambling or slot machines). Second is that you went over your space allotment. Third is that
neither of those things hurt your paper in the long run, because it’s really well done. You
synthesize a variety of source material with great felicity, and you perform a series of strong
analytical arguments. This is really a smart piece. I think it could easily have been extended into
your final project, actually, although I would have hated to see your project on the diamond
industry go. Although the first two factors here justify your B+ grade, especially as this was
your second paper, I’ve got to say that I’m extremely pleased with how it turned out. The only
thing I would warn you about is to recognize that you seem to gravitate strongly to attending
primarily (or even exclusively) to the producers and designers as actors rather than the “victims”
or “targets” (or even “customers” or “clients”) of those people. This is dangerously close to
falling into PR or advertiser perspective and rhetoric, which is what almost happened in the first
version of your first paper. It also pulls a lot of strength, choice, and agency away from those
people, which repeats the exploitation you seek to critique. You might want to look into
ethnography (and auto-ethnography or participant-ethnography) for an alternative mode. But
still, at this point this is an impressive achievement. Thanks, I enjoyed reading it (again).
-Ted Gournelos, 2/14/2008