Psychiatrist on Why People Get Transfixed to Slot Machines, Video Poker: Draws Similarities to Prayer
Dr. David Forrest, clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, claims that gamblers enter into a “meditative” state or a “trance” when playing casino slot machines and video poker.
Forrest should know. He’s not just a psychiatrist, he’s also an avid slots player himself.
Gamblers who favor games involving strategies and decisions often malign slot fans because they don't have to think while playing, writes Mark Gruetze of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Gruetze conducted an interview with Dr. Forrest for a piece appearing in that newspaper this weekend.
"They (the gamblers) play, they have fun, they expect to lose money," he says. "No rational person goes (to a casino) really believing they're going to succeed in the long run. They expect to lose, and yet they go there. How does it work?"
So why do they do it?
It’s simple really.
Slot and video poker play triggers chemical changes in the brain, according to Dr. Forrest. This includes the release of dopamine, a chemical that transmits signals between nerve cells, creating a sense of awe and mystery.
And as it turns out, gambling and religion have something very much in common.
The same behavior and reaction is something akin to prayer among the religious faithful, Gruetze notes in his piece.
The timing of spins and the motion of slots.
"The reels descend. It's a very powerful thing,” claims Dr. Forrest. “They force eyes to do a little up-and-down dance," Forrest says. "The eye movement mimics a number of things that are important to us -- like submission, hypnotic obedience and also awe."
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
