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Ding, ding, ding….you’re broke

Gambling Research Team investigates why slot machines can be so addictive

In Ontario, problem gamblers account for a full 60% of slot machine revenue.  At $1.8 billion annually, that’s a lot of money, and for those gamblers and their families who lose that money:  it’s a big problem.  Apparently, there’s something about slot machines--video slot machines in particular--that makes them the most addictive form of gambling in Ontario.  The Gambling Research Team at Waterloo is seeking to pinpoint just what, exactly, that addicting “something” is in these machines.  What are the features of a slot machine that help turn recreational gamblers into problem gamblers—or bring problem gamblers back time and again? 

Headed up by computer scientist and games specialist Kevin Harrigan, the multi-disciplinary Gambling Research Team includes researchers who are able to approach the problem from different angles:  Mike Dixon, a psychologist specializes in perception, cognition processing, and behaviour; Jonathan Fugelsang, also a psychologist, investigates processes of complex decision making; and Karen Collins, Canada Research Chair in Interactive Audio, contributes her expertise in digital sound and media.  The Gambling Research Team also includes a post-doctoral fellow and a host of graduate and undergraduate students.   

Studies conducted by the team are based in a “Slots Lab” in the PAS building, which, in addition to a collection of slot machines, houses equipment designed to measure heart rate, galvanic skin response, eye tracking behaviour, brain-waves, and other indicators of user experience and engagement.  Currently, the team is involved in several different video slot machine studies aimed at identifying triggers for arousal and addictive behaviour in gamblers: 

1. Illusion of Control:  This study focuses on those features of a slot machine that give players a compelling—but ultimately illusory--feeling of control over the outcome.  For example, in some video slot machines, players are able manually to stop the whirl of symbols mid-stream, thus creating the sense that skill is involved and that a well-timed stop might lead to a win.  In fact, all results on these machines, even those stopped early or strategically by the player, are entirely randomly generated. 
2. Losses Disguised as Wins:  This study looks at the how players might be lulled into thinking they’re winning—when in fact, they’re actually losing.  Some machines allow players to bet on several lines at once, which makes possible partial wins (i.e., one of those lines might line up, but overall, the player is down from where he/she started).  When machines accompany such partial wins with all reinforcing bells and whistles of a real win, the player can be deceived by this “loss disguised as a win.”  As one of the study participants remarked, “If I keep winning, I’m going to go broke!”
3. Multiple Versions of the Same Game:  This study looks at what effects multiple—but differently programmed—versions of the same game have on players.  These differences (which sometimes involve differences in programmed win/payout rates) are not readily apparent to players, who might bring assumptions based on play on one machine to a new, apparently identical, machine.
4. Near Misses:   This study examines the frequency and impact on players of what are called “near misses”:  losses that appear to have come very close to winning (i.e., two symbols line up, but the third matching symbol lands just above or below the pay line).  The “near miss” can be a real hook for players, causing an adrenaline rush and the feeling that they are on the verge of a win.    

The results of this fourth study in particular have been significant for the Waterloo Gambling Research Team.  While such “near misses” can be expected to occur with a certain frequency in a purely random system, what the team has discovered is that in the machines they’ve looked at, these “near misses” occur at a greater than usual frequency--a result only possible through some manipulation of the programming. “There’s a real concern that these design features may lead to increased problem gambling rates,” says Kevin Harrigan.  “What we as a team are seeking to do is assemble the data needed to convince policy-makers that regulations need to be introduced that will curb such overt manipulation of machines—and by extension, of players.”

Research conducted by the Waterloo Gambling Research Team is sponsored by the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre, which has contributed a total of $1.7 million in research funding over the past three years.  Established in January 2008, the team has grown in size and is gaining widespread recognition for its work.  At the Alberta Gaming Institute’s 2011 International Conference, for instance, Mike Dixon and PhD candidate Candice Jensen won the awards for Best Oral Presentation and Best Research Poster, respectively.  As well, Tourism and Policy Planning student Daniel Guttentag, who worked with Kevin Harrigan on a Master’s project addressing problem gambling and casino employees, won the University of Waterloo Masters Outstanding Achievement in Graduate Studies Certificate in June 2010.  

With the initial studies now producing significant results, the Gambling Research Team is starting to move into the area of knowledge translation, bringing their research findings to bear on public policy and regulation.  The goal is to equip policy-makers with the data and knowledge they need to ensure that, in future, gaming machines are modified to be just as fun—but without the hooks that lead to addiction.

Problem Gambling Team website

Safe Cities, Secure Citizens

Political scientist Veronica Kitchen looks at how national security plays out in local contexts

In our post-9/11 world, security has become a top-of-mind concern for both citizens and governments. Seeking to ensure public safety in a new security era, governments at all levels are actively collaborating with each other to develop new counter-terrorism institutions and strategies.  Waterloo political scientist Veronica Kitchen is one of the first scholars to take a close look at these emerging security infrastructures, examining both the forms they are taking and the policy issues they are evoking, both locally and globally. 

Prior to 2001, security generally meant national security, and national security efforts tended to focus on the state as a whole:  territorial borders were the primary object of concern, the central government and the military served as primary actors in a crisis, and attacks from external sources posed the most serious threat.  But times are changing.  Increasingly it is cities, rather than national borders, that are the target of security threats, and as often as not, these threats are “homegrown.” 

As a consequence, attention is shifting towards the more local aspects of security planning and disaster preparedness.  Indeed, clear divisions between internal and external security, and between local and national jurisdiction, are dissolving.  “National security” is now as much a mayor’s concern as it is a president’s or prime minister’s, and government leaders at all levels are recognizing the necessity of working together to prepare for possible terrorist attacks and other catastrophic security events. 

With funding from a SSHRC Standard Research Grant and an Ontario Early Researcher Award, Kitchen has embarked on a comparative analysis of security governance in three countries:  Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.  Specifically, she is examining new counter-terrorism institutions charged with integrating and coordinating police, intelligence, military, and emergency management professionals across various levels of government.   Kitchen’s study began in Vancouver in 2009, where preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympics provided her with a unique opportunity to observe such coordinated security planning in the Canadian context.   She is currently also looking at the evolution of security planning and integration in other urban centres, including New York City and London (UK).

“Cooperation across the local, regional, and national levels in security is new territory for a lot of governments,” says Kitchen, “and counter-terrorism policy affects our security from the personal up to the global.” While cross-jurisdictional cooperation is no doubt needed, Kitchen’s study is also examining the possible downside of such security integration:  “When and how does cooperation work to make us more secure--and when does it have negative impacts on our democracy, privacy, or civil liberties that may ultimately make us more insecure?” she asks.  “My research analyzes and critiques existing policies and institutions with the goal of understanding how to make security governance effective and congruent with our democratic values.”

This study promises to provide us with a better understanding of how democratic countries are responding to the public security challenges of the 21st century.  Perhaps more importantly, however, Kitchen’s findings may well lead the way towards more thoughtful governance of the new security measures being developed in cities across the world. 

Veronica Kitchen is an assistant professor in the University of Waterloo’s Department of Political Science.  She is also a faculty member at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in the city Waterloo.

UW philosophy prof Steve Weinstein talks about multiple time dimensions in the TV series Through the Wormhole, hosted by Morgan Freeman.  You can watch it on the episode called Does Time Really Exist? (Sep 2011)

Sociology prof Rick Helmes-Hayes wins the 2011 John Porter Prize (for best book by a Canadian sociologist) for his book Measuring the Mosaic: An Intellectual Biography of John Porter. (Aug  2011)

Maclean’s names Waterloo #1 among Canadian comprehensive universities for success in securing SSHRC research grants.  Waterloo Arts hosts gala dinner on Jan 26 to celebrate this success and recognize recent SSHRC grant recipients (Feb 2011).

Colin Ellard (Psychology), Jennifer Simpson (Drama & Speech Communication), Nancy Barrickman (Anthropology), and Miriam George (Social Work-Renison) among 2010 recipients of Waterloo’s Robert Harding and Lois Claxton Humanities and Social Sciences Endowment Fund awards (Feb 2011).

English prof Marcel O’Gorman’sdigital installation “Myth of the Steersman”part of Tom Thomson exhibition, which runs until May 8 at Kitchener’s The Museum (Waterloo Region Record, Feb 2011).

The Myth of Joyful Parenthood:  The Ultimate Cognitive Dissonance?   Research by Waterloo’s Richard Eibach (Psychology) and Steven Moch (Recreation & Leisure Studies) discussed in Wray Herbert’s Huffington Post blog (Feb 2011).

French Studies prof Christine McWebb and fellow digital archivists in the MARGOT project win a $250,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (Jan 2011).

UW Sociologist John Goyder wins 2010 John Porter Prize (for best book by a Canadian sociologist) for his book The Prestige Squeeze: Occupational Prestige in Canada since 1965 (Jan 2011):