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Understanding the Slot Machine Zone

  • Gambling (L Clark, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

The slot machine zone describes a ‘trance-like’ state of diminished attention to time passing and gambling-irrelevant events during Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) use. This article summarizes two prominent theoretical accounts of this state and articulates a new account that seeks to integrate them.

Recent Findings

Zone experiences are correlated with gambling problems and may be amplified by specific features of EGMs and other modern gambling formats. Links with excitement, relaxation, and depression have been found, implicating both positive and negative reinforcement processes. Emerging evidence suggests gamblers in the zone are more focused on EGM use (‘zoned in’). Models rooted in either Flow Theory or dissociation do not fully account for these effects.

Summary

Integrating earlier models, we propose a continuum of gambling immersion as a function of problem gambling severity. Cognitive studies aimed at clarifying the psychological nature of immersion will help inform programmes that treat and prevent gambling harm.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Magdalen Schluter for providing insightful input into the Gambling Immersion hypothesis presented in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Concordia University, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Montreal, Quebec, H3G 1M8, Canada

    W. Spencer Murch

  2. Centre for Gambling Research at UBC, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    W. Spencer Murch & Luke Clark

  3. Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Luke Clark

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Correspondence to W. Spencer Murch.

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Conflict of Interest

Luke Clark is the Director of the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC, which is supported by funding from the Province of British Columbia and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), a Canadian Crown Corporation. The Province of British Columbia and BCLC had no involvement in the ideas expressed herein and impose no constraints on publishing. Luke Clark has received speaker/travel honoraria from the National Association of Gambling Studies (Australia) and the National Center for Responsible Gaming (USA). He has received consulting fees from Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (Canada), GambleAware (UK), and the National Center for Responsible Gaming (USA). He has not received any further direct or indirect payments from the gambling industry or groups substantially funded by gambling. He has received royalties from Cambridge Cognition Ltd. relating to neurocognitive testing. Spencer Murch completed his PhD at the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC. He has no further conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Murch, W.S., Clark, L. Understanding the Slot Machine Zone. Curr Addict Rep 8, 214–224 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-021-00371-x

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