The Color of Money

I don't go to casinos often, for while I enjoy the experience, I do understand the odds, and have had my share of "$200 buffets." Like most, I hope, I take a certain amount that I think I can afford, and will never use a cash machine to try and chase losses. I like to think that I'm about even or maybe a little ahead over the years, but I imagine casinos like people to think that.

Casinos are masters of psychological manipulation. They create loud noises and fanfare to advertise winnings. Hard coins dropping rapidly some distance into the metal basin, machines heralding triumph through kaleidoscopic sight and blaring sound, groups at table games unabashedly celebrating a point made or dealer bust. Defeat is silent and solitary, but victory is proclaimed and shared.

Casinos create "free money" to give incentives and rewards to play, whether it's free play coupons and the like, reduced costs for food, drink, lodging, entertainment, etc., "frequent flier" redeemable rewards for extended play, and many other "bargains" that allow one to believe that they are starting with house money and merchandise, the casinos understand that there aren't a lot of people that go for the shrimp cocktails and leave. These traffic generating incentives do their job well.

Casinos hide time by generally not having easy access to things that would tell you it's late. Rarely are there windows to see that it is night- or the next morning. Clocks are not to be found. In fact, there are scarcely any reminders that an outside world exists, nothing to bring your mind back to your realities and responsibilities.

Relatedly, casinos serve "free" alcohol, though typically you still tip generously for the freebie (and thereby pay most of the labor expense for the server). Of course, there will be more alcohol available at the hundred dollar minimum table than the 5 cent slot machine. While free drinks may aid in taking and keeping you away from your life, it has the much more direct impact of impairing your judgment, perhaps indirectly in adding to the distracting festive atmosphere, likely more directly by making it a little more difficult to calculate or remember the odds of splitting 8s or surrendering when facing a 9. Have another drink and you'll be doubling that 12.

Casinos have very efficient cash handling methods, but there is also psychological manipulation in the substitution of chips for currency, and points for coins. By not seeing the cash, the substituted symbol seems to becomes devalued. You might not tip $5 for that drink, but you might give a red chip. You might not bet $25, but you might bet a green chip. Deviously brilliant.

I am particularly awed by the casino's ability to manipulate the perception of odds. An easy example is slot machines, as when a 97% payout is advertised. A, that may be the expected value of the pull, but not the probability of winning, and B, what about the second pull, in other words, the cumulative effect of those 97%s. But the machines themselves are fascinating, programmed to "just miss" the big ones so that people will believe that the machine is getting close to paying out or is "due," when of course there is an independent random number generator at work. And then there are the "extras" that entice extended play (build up enough points for the bonus spin!) or playing for more coins to be eligible for more prizes or a higher ratio of winnings. Wild card symbols, multiple lines, bonuses, reward points, how can you lose? Machines are going off all around you; you're so close, you're due, you're down another hundred. Losing too slowly? Don't pull the handle, the button is so much faster. And look, there's one for max bet. The tables have another advantage besides presenting bad bets that appear to be fair bets. They get the patrons to try to convince you that they're good bets. The dollar in the slot for Caribbean Stud and its many permutations allows you a sizable bonus if you are dealt a rare hand, and it's only a dollar compared to your $10 hand, so you're a fool not to play they tell you. Look, there's somebody dealt a flush and he wasn't playing the bonus; what an idiot! As it turns out, all of those extra bets are bad, often very bad, bets. But like the lottery, that low investment, high payoff is enticing, but the expected value remains lower than the bet.

One that is very subtle and explained by some as labor efficiency is creating a shortage of supply, as when the number of tables open are just a little too few to allow everyone an immediate seat. This creates a seat shortage one has to wait and hope that a spot opens up soon. After a while, you're practically begging them to take your money. But here's the really sinister part. As the seat shortage increases, so too do the table minimums. So while the casino might technically retain a table or two with the $5 minimum for which you'd like to play, there's no chance of getting on in the next hour, but there are a couple of spots at the $25 tables. Oh look, a spot just opened at the $15 table. You lucky dog.

There's just so much more, and I could go on forever, but it appears that I already have. Bet you've had enough.