Marketing, Gambling, The North American
Context
 Today’s Agenda
 Current Zeitgeist and Marketing of Gambling PPT
 Break
 Group Movie Emersion: High Rollers in America
CURRENT
ZEITGEIST
 The western view of gambling has changed from gambling
as deviant and immoral to gambling as leisure
entertainment, a form of adult play. The causes of this are
unclear, but are probably related to




It has been some time since the public has been exposed to the harmful impacts of
gambling
Because we now have more disposable income and more leisure time (similar to the
aristocracy historically)
The weakened authority of the church, usually the main critic.
The gradual increase in pervasiveness of gambling opportunities.
 In modern Western democracies, our current attitude
toward gambling is very similar to our current attitude
toward drinking alcohol:


Excessive gambling, like excessive drinking, can lead to addiction.
There should be some controls to minimize the harm, but it should be legal and available to
the general public.
 Gambling is now organized on commercial principles. The commercial
orientation, technology and style of the U.S. approach has strongly
influenced the objectives and character of global casino development, in
large part due to the investment strength of American casino
corporations and the market structure of international tourism.
 Fair amount of research now on the regulatory and administrative aspects of
cost-benefit analyses.
 Lot of economic justification for gambling (creates jobs; good way of raising
money for good causes; keeps money from leaving the jurisdiction)
Canada
A Few Important Developments
1969 Law permitting federal and provincial governments to operate lotteries
of any size
Quebec first to set up lottery in 1970, but end of 70s all provinces all in.
Federal government and provincial governments fight over lottery
jurisdictions
1979 Ottawa withdraws from lotteries in return for receiving an annual
inflation-adjusted cash payment from the provinces
By 1985 then Prime minister Brian amended the Criminal Code to place all
forms of gambling (except horse racing) solely under provincial jurisdiction.
This same amendment allowed provincial governments to run VLT’s & slot
machines, which helped to set the stage toward allowing for further
delegation of the management of casino’s to private companies
Let their be gambling…
All provinces introduce either VLT’s or slot
machines (Manitoba 1989 – B.C. 1997)
All provinces except N.B., P.E.I. &
Newfoundland introduce permanent
casinos (Alberta 1980 – B.C. 1998)
Gambling Availability in Canada as of 2004
BC
Lotteries; Instant
Win; Raffles
Bingo
Sports Betting
Horse Racing
Electronic Gaming
Machines
Casino Table
Games
AB
SK
MB
ON
QU
NB
NS
PE
NF
YK
NWT/
NU
Alberta Gambling Venues
(2004 Consensus)
56
Bingo Halls
16
Casinos (5,621 slot machines)
3
Racinos (Northlands & Whoop-Up Downs;
624 slot machines)
2,126
Ticket Lottery Centres
1,194
VLT Locations (6,000 VLTs)
5
Horserace tracks
Quebec
57
B.C.
58
Atlantic
59
Prairie
65
Ontario
68
50
55
60
65
70
Percent agreement with statement ‘gambling is an
acceptable activity’
Ontario
34
B.C.
43
Prairie
48
Quebec
49
Atlantic
60
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Percent agreement with statement ‘more restrictions on
gambling needed’
Revenue generated in Alberta
as of 2007-2008
$1.538
billion
"That's just
$28 million
less than
Alberta's oil
royalties.
Marketing Gambling: How do
they do it?
Marketing: Two Factors
Situational factors:
– Foundational characteristics that induce first gambling experiences (i.e.,
location of outlet, number of outlets, use of advertising).
Structural factors:
– Any gaming device/design that exists outside the individual that may
facilitate the maintenance of a gambling behaviour.
– These devices not only maintain a behaviour, but in fact may make a
game addictive.
Race Tracks
Marketing “mystique” – getting closer to the
bourgeoisie
A taste of the good life
Today this mystique has fallen
Now racetracks are marketed through intrinsic
association or proximity of play
Casino’s – Situational
Vacation destinations
VIP Services
Free food / drink
Sin City
Casino’s – Structural
Gambling environments are created to intensify the impact of ones
experience through casino or venue design which deliberately
manipulates sensory and cognitive influences.
Intense visual and auditory stimuli enhanced to the maximum.
Lights and sounds pervade casinos and are used to saliently signal
wins and rewards.
Casino’s typically do not have clocks, windows, passage of time is
downplayed.
Excess to alcohol, which has a direct neurochemical effect leading
to altering judgment and increasing risk-taking.
Payment Characteristics
Suspension of Judgement and Cashless
Gaming
– Cash turned into vouchers: misinterpret value of
money
– Smart Card: isolated play, no interruptions
– Alternative argument “May also encourage
responsible gaming” … I know how much I can spend
Bet Sizes and Bill Acceptors
Conflicting evidence regarding bet sizes
Meanwhile bill acceptors may cause:
• Un-interrupted play
• De-value money
• Isolated play
Cash / Credit Display
Conflicting evidence
Structurally the argument is that if the gambler views
money disappearing on the EGM screen as opposed to
credits, the gambler is likely to:
– Bet less
– Stop themselves when losses begin to add up
– Less likely to chase losses… But now we can switch to either
or…?
Playability Characteristics (Structural)
Bonus Game, the game within the game
– The idea behind the bonus game is to increase
playability and ultimately give the gambler an illusion
of control.
– As such, the gambler believes that they have more
ability to bring about a win, manipulated through...
Stop Buttons
Gamble Buttons
Touch Screen
– Essentially, the bonus games along with
the latter features brings us to the
Near Miss
The Near Miss
 The near miss or
near win, is any nonwinning outcome that
is perceived by the
gambler to be almost
successful.
 Hence, the bonus
games, stop buttons,
nearly hitting three
symbols, or three
lines, visually entice
the gambler to
continue to play.
The Near Miss (contd)
According to Kahneman and Tversky ,
nearly winning produces a frustration and
cognitive regret...
Whereby, if we continue to play we can
eliminate the cognitive regret by actually
getting the win, picking the larger bonus
prize, ect.
Psychology of Familiarity

Other technological advances
in EGM machines have also
played into the hands of the
structural marketing
technique known as
“psychology of familiarity.”

This speaks to playing on one
machine more than the other.

Beyond the obvious attraction
to the common, novel,
(socially and culturally)
Parke and Griffiths (2007)
hold that gamblers may fall
victim the psychology of
familiarity because...
Psychology of Familiarity

EGM gamers trust in an international symbol (celebrity) – thus
jackpots maybe be higher, “I won’t be ripped off.”

Experience , gamblers believe they have an added advantage
because they have knowledge of the game (i.e., price is right, wheel
of fortune), which directly affect the EGM game.

Fun – the newer games are more interactive, music is hip,
humorous, ect.

Ultimately, in addition to the newer games being played more,
gamblers supposedly may not be affected by their losses as usual,
and continue to play despite mounting losses.
Psychology of Familiarity
1. Fear Factor
2. Price is Right
3. Monopoly
4. Wheel of Fortune
5. Simpsons
6. Spider Man
7. King Kong
Event Duration
 Event duration simply refers to how fast is
the event (i.e., reel speed).
 Hence, the faster the event, the more opportunity
their is to win or lose.
 EGM machines today and their speed can be
manipulated by the gamblers, the faster you hit
the bet button, the faster your money goes,
increases, or the closer you are to hitting the
jackpot or entering into the bonus game.
Payout Intervals
Closely related to event duration, is the
payout interval.
Research tells us (operant conditioning)
that humans are prone to seek rewards.
Hence, the casino industry produces high
rates of response via random and variable
ratio schedules.
Chance Ideology
Lotteries
Upward mobility!
Regressive tax…
Escape your life/job!
Could you imagine?
Summation
 Empirical evidence does exist revealing that games that
offer a fast, arousing span of play, frequent wins, and the
opportunity for rapid replay are associated with problem
gambling.
 In essence, if we look at addiction and understand to be
highly related to the pairing of reward and the speed by
which we can receive an award
 It might would be foolish to disregard the structural
characteristics of EGM machines and their role in the
development of a gambling problem...
 Or would it?
Group Task For Movie Emersion (using the movie, readings, lect
material, and your opinions)
1.
Create a written statement declaring whether you are for the current gambling
ethnos (culture) or want to sanction or modify it. Need to declare reasons and
evidence for why?
2.
Afterwards, it is your group’s job to lobby other groups to support your position. In
order for your group to do this – the group(s) you lobby must have more than 50%
of “their” group agree with your group’s position (collects votes/signatures).
3.
Be prepared to discuss your case in front of the class / at the beginning of next
class; along with declaring which groups are in favour of your stance.
4.
The group with the best argument / coupled with having a minimum of at least two
supporting lobby groups wins.
5. Remember the groups you lobby and get support from have to make sense
with respect to your declaration and theirs. If their support doesn’t make sense in
relation to your declaration. Support will be withdrawn!!!
Here Are Your Groups
1. Rainbow Rollers
2. Triple Action
3. Battle of the Brains
4. Bank Roll
5. All or Nothing
6. High-Low Hockey
7. Dad’s Home
8. Wanna Die
9. Rainbow Digit Space Ball
10. Pantheon of Fortune
Reading for Next Week
I will send of the PDF immediately
following class
Three readings