It’s the contradiction that everyone who works in the industry has to deal with: there’s no rational reason to gamble in a casino. The overwhelming majority of players will, over the course of their play, lose more than they win, and usually considerably more. Yet they play. One logical conclusion would seem to be that people who gamble are simply not that intelligent.
Click here to see the book on Amazon
But anyone who personally knows people who play also knows that such a conclusion is false. Many of those drawn to casinos are intelligent, capable, accomplished people, from a good cross section of the world. Some of the players, it’s true, are not Mensa material, but many of them are, and the vast majority are just as smart (and, occasionally, as dumb) as you and I.
So why do they gamble? In Slots: Praying to the God of Chance, Columbia-trained psychiatrist and avid recreational slot player David Forrest offers his thoughts on that riddle. He finds the slot-playing experience to be, at its depth, a religious one. Before you dismiss that out of hand, consider some of Forrest’s evidence. He notes that the “basal slot-play rate,” or natural speed at which most players start a cycle, is 16 to 18 times a minute, which syncs almost perfectly with most people’s at-rest respiration rate. As such, it is similar to exercises that induce a meditative state.
So perhaps slot playing can get you to the same place that yoga can. What’s the point? Forrest notes that “the repeated ritual mantra of the melodically spinning reels of the slot machine, like so many Tibetan prayer wheels being spun again and again, is the slot player’s communion with Immensity,” which he defines as “the force of chance that drives the world.” No matter where you stand on the socioeconomic ladder, the world is a big, scary, unpredictable place. Playing slots, like praying, is, according to Forrest, one way of accommodating oneself to this frightening world.
The book is divided into two main parts. The first seeks to understand the why of slot machines. Some of it, including Forrest’s descriptions of slot mechanics, may be well-trod ground for many people. But other things, particularly his look at the biological factors that maximize slot play, are not commonly discussed. Forrest notes that problem gambling affects only a small percentage of the population; the first part mostly focuses on how healthy gamblers play: what drives them? This part is shot through with personal and anecdotal observations that, again, will be enlightening.
The second part of the book is geared towards those slot players whose gambling may be getting out of hand. Forrest sees risk and gambling as an inescapable part of daily life. The act of driving to work is risky—but so is sitting at home. Since we’re all gamblers, Forrest concludes, “we might as well accept it and try to manage it.”
Forrest offers strategies for playing, such as alternating bet patterns. But what he proposes is not a system to win money, but simply a way to maximize time on a device (which Forrest, along with many slot managers, believes is what slot players are really after). He also offers a list of mental and financial symptoms of overplaying, to help gamblers self-diagnose problems, and a list of activities that can replace excessive slot play.
This is a valuable book, not least because Forrest is an immensely accomplished and recognized psychiatrist with a diversity of experiences in treating patients from all walks of life. While he is not a casino manager, his insights into the field provide a quite useful, different perspective. Should you solicit Forrest’s professional advice, either for yourself or for your business, I have no doubt you’ll find his rates to be considerable. In that light, the chance to get his detailed views about something you may be involved with every day, for the low price of a paperback, is probably a better deal than any player will get at the comp kiosk.
