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1. Addiction by Design
   Addiction by Design by Natasha Schüll is an in-depth look at how the gambling industry designs machines and how these designs affect consumers. Schüll provides a look at the psychology of casino interior design in terms of gambling machines, with clustered and tight spaces being preferred. Aspects of the games themselves are also discussed and a detailed explanation of how the odds are calculated is also provided. With no knowledge of gambling machines, I was still able to follow the explanations laid out and the implications behind them. Schüll provides detailed but easy-to-follow explanations as well as diagrams. She also explains what effect these odds have on the player and how there is a false perception of “near wins” and the sense that each round increases a player’s chance. All these methods are employed to increase a person’s time on device, which is desired by casinos because it increases the revenue possibilities. The lower-value slot machines, like penny and nickel slots, begin to make more sense as Schüll explains the impact time on device has. The longer a player can gamble the more money can be drawn from them slowly. Penny and nickel machines take a little each round and have small intermittent wins. The low bet amount allows a player to gamble for days before running out of money. These are seemingly obvious revelations once reading Schüll’s work, but before this, I had not spent much time thinking about the predatory nature of gambling machines. Casinos provide rewards programs and member cards to better market to gamblers. Every time a card is used on a machine it is monitored and some machines can even adapt to the personal style of play. Schüll’s interviews with addicts in gamblers anonymous are very interesting as they all have similar themes as to what draws them to play. Many mention the idea of a “zone” or “machine zone”. This zone is where gamblers find themselves escaping reality and numbing the outside world by connecting to a machine, this is what draws them in and holds them for hours. The gambling industry also knows this and applies convenience to gambling machines so that this zone is not interrupted. Schüll examines the intersection between machine and human interaction, which I believe is a very good perspective on addiction. exploring both the machine and human causes of addiction provides a clearer picture of the gambling industry. I found the book to be very interesting, well-written, and worth reading. Some aspects of the machine zone Schüll discusses could be applied to how social media and video games are used as escapism as well. There are so many more topics introduced in the book, seeing how they are all connected and seeing the big picture is very interesting and raises questions about the nature of addiction.

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2. Masterful
   Equal parts fascinating and heartbreaking, Ms. Schull’s book is one of the few books I’ve read recently that made me feel like a different person after I finished reading. Though her style is overall very neutral, the simple facts she assembles about the history of the gambling industry constitute the most devastating critique of modern capitalism I’ve ever read, and forced me to rethink a lot of my attitudes about choice and public policy.But don’t mistake this book for any kind of political screed or polemic. It’s more like a real-life version of the first third of Ocean’s 11, except instead of explaining casino security systems, she’s explaining the games themselves. And what games! Through decades of trial and error, game designers have learned more about human psychology than a million studies of bored undergraduates could ever hope to reveal. Mind control may be an overstatement, but after you read the words of the gamblers themselves you’ll have no doubt that machine gambling exploits our natural risk preferences and emotions so effectively that many of the people held in its sway have essentially stopped making choices, being unable to satisfy their longings in any way other than continued attachment to a slot or video poker machine.Ms. Schull does not stop there. She takes the reader further, examining the financial structure of the gaming industry, the mindset of key players in the industry, and the uneasy relationship between the industry and regulators, all supported by an impressively thorough set of sources and original research of her own.To her credit, there is no call to action, no indictment of the industry, though her views on the morality of the gaming industry are not exactly hidden. Rather, the reader is left with a vexing set of questions. What to do about the current trend towards legalizing and liberalizing gambling restrictions? What other industries are operating in a similar way (processed food, I’m looking at you)? Does regulation do any good, or does it simply serve to protect incumbent players so long as government gets its cut of the wealth that the industry extracts from players?The answers, sadly, remain elusive.

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3. Makes you think, even if you don’t want to…
   As machine gaming expands across the US more people need to understand the design process of these machines and the impact they have on people. The author does a excellent job explaining the development process and how that process has driven the design of these games to encourage gameplay in a way that seems to disconnect players from the outside world.Some of the psychology was a little deeper than I thought necessary, but it was still interesting. I gained a lot of insight into why people play some of these games and it wasn’t what I expected.

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4. AWESOME

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5. As a former gambling addict, I got angrier with every page. You’ll see how the gambling industry hides behind responsible gambling messages to ensure that gambling harm in their view is all down to the individual

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6. This study of addiction to slot machine gambling in Las Vegas is itself an addictive read. The bland design and marketing jargon of the gambling industry is juxtaposed with the misery of its best customers, who destroy their lives not so much in search of a big win as in seeking refuge in the “zone” of solitary, repetitive play. Actually my one doubt about the book was the lack of discussion about really big winners. Las Vegas slots do offer the remote possibility of multi-million dollar payouts, so a tiny number of people do actually have their lives transformed positively… If they are sensible with money… a big If, I know. I would have thought that even the remote possibility of such a life-changing win must affect gamblers’ psychology, but this is never discussed. Instead the author insists that addicted gamblers do not even want to win, just to have longer “T.O.D.” (Time On Device). That one question mark aside, I found this a very thoroughly researched, well-argued book that taught me a lot about gambling psychology. A thoroughly depressing read.

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7. Great read with insights from multiple perspectives (gamblers, designers, casino owners). There’s a good mix of both personal accounts and more clinical information about how gambling addiction is formed and how it works. The writing is very engaging and made me curious to learn more (which was a pleasant surprise for this type of book)Bought it after seeing an interview with the author and liking how in-depth she pursued the topic, and the findings in the book didn’t disappoint. Seems even more relevant now with how prevalent gambling has become in the last few years.

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8. It is good to find a book that is based more upon research than opinion. This author has done a good job exploring many of the mechanisms as to how these machines are wired to addict. Perhaps a greater emphasis upon the mechanics of online gaming now that it is growing.

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