Editing Slot machine (section)

==Problem gambling and slot machines==
[[File:Mills Novelty Co. Horse Head Bonus Antique Slot Machine.jpg|thumb|Mills Novelty Co. Horse Head Bonus antique slot machine]]

Natasha Dow Schüll, associate professor in [[New York University]]'s Department of Media, Culture and Communication, uses the term "machine zone" to describe the state of immersion that users of slot machines experience when gambling, where they lose a sense of time, space, bodily awareness, and monetary value.<ref>{{cite book|last=Schüll|first=Natasha|title=Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas|location=Princeton, N.J.|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-69-116088-7|oclc=866583433}}</ref>

Mike Dixon, PhD, professor of psychology at the [[University of Waterloo]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://uwaterloo.ca/psychology/people-profiles/mike-j-dixon|title=Mike J. Dixon|work=Website of the Department of Psychology|publisher=University of Waterloo|date=2013-04-04}}</ref> studies the relationship between slot players and machines. In one of Dixon's studies, players were observed experiencing heightened arousal from the [[Stimulus (physiology)|sensory stimulus]] coming from the machines. They "sought to show that these 'losses disguised as wins' (LDWs) would be as arousing as wins, and more arousing than regular losses."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dixon|first1=Mike J.|last2=Harrigan|first2=Kevin A.|last3=Sandhu|first3=Rajwant|last4=Collins|first4=Karen|last5=Fugelsang|first5=Jonathan A.|date=October 2010|title=Losses disguised as wins in modern multi-line video slot machines: Losses disguised as wins|journal=Addiction|volume=105|issue=10|pages=1819–1824|doi=10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03050.x|pmid=20712818}}</ref>

Psychologists Robert Breen and Marc Zimmerman<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Breen|first1=Robert B|first2=M.|last2=Zimmerman|year=2002|title=Rapid Onset of Pathological Gambling in Machine Gamblers|journal=Journal of Gambling Studies|volume=18|issue=1|pages=31–43|doi=10.1023/A:1014580112648|pmid=12050846|s2cid=10700182}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Breen|first1=Robert B|year=2004|title=Rapid Onset of Pathological Gambling in Machine Gamblers: A Replication|journal=ECommunity: The International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction|volume=2|issue=1|pages=44–49}}</ref> found that players of video slot machines reach a debilitating level of involvement with gambling three times as rapidly as those who play traditional casino games, even if they have engaged in other forms of gambling without problems.

Eye-tracking research in local bookkeepers' offices in the UK suggested that, in slots games, the reels dominated players' visual attention, and that problem gamblers looked more frequently at amount-won messages than did those without gambling problems.<ref>Rogers, R. D., Butler, J., Millard, S., Cristino, F., Davitt, L. I., & Leek, E. C. (2018). A scoping investigation of eye-tracking in Electronic Gambling Machine (EGM) play. ''Bangor: Bangor University''. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200319034439/https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/files/20304339/2018_RGT_Eye_tracking_machines.pdf |date=2020-03-19 }}</ref>

The 2011 ''[[60 Minutes]]'' report "Slot Machines: The Big Gamble"<ref>{{cite episode|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/slot-machines-the-big-gamble-07-01-2011/|access-date=8 May 2011|title=Slot Machines: The Big Gamble|series=60 Minutes|network=CBS|date=7 January 2011}}</ref> focused on the link between slot machines and gambling addiction.