Overview of the Illusion of Gambling

Exploring the Gambling Illusion

If I can see that gambling is causing problems in my life, why can’t I stop?  

This is the million dollar question.  In fact, if you look at the revenue numbers from the gambling industry over the last few years, it’s actually a multi-billion dollar question at this point.   The simplest answer to this question is this:

You continue to gamble because you are under the spell of a very clever illusion.

In this lesson, we’re going to unpack that illusion, which can help you get out from under the weight of gambling harm.

The Gambling Illusion

The Gambling Illusion tricks us into fundamentally believing things that aren’t true. In general, these false truths go something like this:

Gambling is providing something for us that we can’t get anywhere else

• An escape from the stress of our lives

• A feeling of true happiness

• The most engaging form of entertainment

Gambling is a way to make money

• The only way to recoup what we’ve already lost

• The only option to improve our financial position

• “Easy money” without having to work hard

Gambling is enhancing our social lives and relationships

• It’s helping us connect with our friends

• It’s become the center of our social life

In reality, for someone experiencing gambling harm, none of these statements are true.  For us, gambling is causing harm, and we want to stop.

So how is this illusion created, and more importantly, how do we see the truth in a way that can help us stop?

The 3 Pillars of the Gambling Illusion

Whenever and wherever you gamble, every aspect of the experience is specifically designed to keep you as engaged as possible for as long as possible.  

We mean every aspect, from the design of the carpet on the casino floor, to the Terms & Conditions of the welcome bonus offered by the Sportsbook.

At Evive, we call this overall design The Gambling Illusion and it has 3 fundamental pillars:

1. Media

2. Mathematics

3. Manipulation of the Brain

As you continue with Evive, we’ll dissect each pillar in great detail.  Just like peering behind the curtain in a magic show, once you see how the trick is performed, it loses its power.  If you fundamentally understand how the gambling illusion is created, you won’t fall victim to it very long.

M1 - Media

Gambling operators are brilliant marketers, and they spend A LOT of money crafting the popular image of gambling.  In fact, in 2021, online gambling advertising spent $1 billion dollars.  That number is expected to double to $2 billion in 2023.

Overall, the gambling operator’s marketing efforts are designed to create a favorable image of the activity, attract a steady flow of customers, and encourage them to spend more time and money on gambling.  They do this through a number of different tools:

• Traditional advertisements

• Social media influencers

• Paid partnerships

• Celebrity endorsements

• “Free” bonuses

We’ll examine each in greater detail to see exactly how they work, and what they’re really selling.

M2-Math

“The house always wins.”

The reason for this is the mathematical design of every casino game.  There are 2 fundamental principles at work that keep casinos winning over the long run, the Law of Probability/Expected Value and the Law of Large Numbers.  

The first ensures that casino games are mathematically designed so that the gambling operator always has the advantage.  The second ensures that the more repetitions of an event, the more likely the actual outcomes are to represent the statistical probability.

What does this mean for the gambler?

It means while you may be able to win in the very short term, over the long-run, you can not gamble profitably*  Yes, the asterisk is there because there are professional gamblers that do profit in the long-run, but they represent a itsy bitsy, teeny-tiny percentage of the overall gambling population.  We’re talking less than 1%...We’ll talk about professional gambling in greater detail later on.

M3 - Manipulation of the Brain

Finally, there is the trickiest part of the illusion, the way in which gambling affects the brain.

At a high level, think of it like this:

1. When you gamble, your brain releases a chemical called Dopamine

2. Dopamine, sometimes called “The Happiness Chemical” is the core component of our brain’s reward system.

3. As the slot whirls, the roulette ball spins, or the big game takes place, dopamine surges through our brains, waiting for the outcome of the risk to be revealed.

4. The surge of dopamine can have many different effects on us. It can make us feel a “thrill”, anxiety, fear, sweaty palms, increased heart rate, etc.

5. However, when that event is over, we experience a drop in dopamine, as we have just depleted our stores.

6. That drop causes our brains to request more dopamine, and how do we do that?  You guessed it, by having the urge to gamble again.

7. Plus, due to the math of the game, we most likely lost, so we’ll want to win our money back!

Let's Reflect

Reflect on a time when you felt drawn to continue gambling even when you knew the odds were against you. What factors influenced your decision to keep playing?

Are there any parts of the gambling illusion that you find yourself still believing, or wanting to believe, even against your better judgment?

Closing Thought

If you can understand how this illusion is created, you are one step closer to never being tricked by it again.

It's important to remember that while the illusion may be strong, we have the power to navigate the situation in a way that aligns with our values and goals.