Casino Lights Could Be Warping Your Brain To Take Risks, Scientists Warn

ScienceAlert reports: Casino lighting could be nudging gamblers to be more reckless with their money, according to a new study, which found a link between blue-enriched light and riskier gambling behavior. The extra blue light emitted by casino decor and LED screens seems to trigger certain switches in our brains, making us less sensitive to financial losses compared to gains of equal magnitude, researchers from Flinders University and Monash University in Australia found...

The researchers think circadian photoreception, which is our non-visual response to light, is playing a part here. The level of blue spectrum light may be activating specific eye cells connected to brain regions in charge of decision-making, emotional regulation, and processing risk versus reward scenarios.

"Under conditions where the lighting emitted less blue, people tended to feel a $100 loss much more strongly than a $100 gain — the loss just feels worse," [says the study's lead author, a psychologist at the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute]. "But under bright, blue-heavy light such as that seen in casino machines, the $100 loss didn't appear to feel as bad, so people were more willing to take the risk...." That raises some questions around ethics and responsibility, according to the researchers. While encouraging risk taking might be good for the gambling business, it's not good for the patrons spending their cash.
One professor involved in the study reached this conclusion. "It is possible that simply dimming the blue in casino lights could help promote safer gambling behaviors."

The research has been published in Scientific Reports.

Thanks to Slashdot reader alternative_right for sharing the news.

Voluntarily turn down the blue lights?

[caseih]

Everything about casinos is designed to warp your brain into taking risks and tantalizing you with the promise of instant gratification. The slot machines are designed to maximize the sound of the coins coming out when you win some minor thing (or at least they used to... not sure what they are like now that no one uses coins). They are designed to allure and entice. In Vegas they purposely make people walk though the casinos to get to the famous buffet restaurants, knowing many will drop and lose a few dollars. Casino owners know what they are doing. The best way to avoid having your brain warped is to just avoid them in the first place.

If you want to gamble play the stock market. Or buy a farm.

Re:

[innocent_white_lamb]

"In Vegas they purposely make people walk though the casinos to get to the famous buffet restaurants"

In grocery stores they put the milk and dairy at the back of the store for the same reason.

Re:

[caseih]

This is true, but on the other hand, the best place for meat, milk, and dairy is the back of the store anyway because it's closest to the stockrooms and the refrigerated display cases can share a common wall with the store room, allowing them to be stocked from within the cold storage room.

Could this also affect Driving?

[garlicbread2]

If blue light encourages more riskier behaviour and we've now moved from yellow sodium lamps to white colored Led Lamps with more blue in
(In some cases blue or purple due to faulty led's)
I wonder if from a statistical point of view this might also impact driving safety

Could the effects be delayed in time?

[Mr. Dollar Ton]

E.g. can the casino lights affect a failed casino owner so that he starts another major war in the Middle East years later?

International politics experts are curious.

Natural result

[alvinrod]

Even if this weren't intentional, it seems like a natural result over time. If there is something that makes people more likely to play or continue playing a machine, then with sufficient variety some machines will be more successful at enticing players than others and casinos will naturally tend to purchase more of these to replace those that underperform. Of course casinos have been employing various other dark pattern strategies for decades (e.g., not having clocks on the walls.) so I wouldn't be surprised if they've had someone trying to figure out what makes some machines more successful than others.

Weird

[JBMcB]

When I went to Vegas a few months ago I managed to walk across a dozen casino floors without spending a dime. The only thing remotely appealing was the Sigma Derby machine at the D, mainly because it's the only one left in the world, and it's an amazing piece of engineering.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

I dropped $50 at the Pinball Museum though.

Re:

[tlhIngan]

When I went to Vegas a few months ago I managed to walk across a dozen casino floors without spending a dime. The only thing remotely appealing was the Sigma Derby machine at the D, mainly because it's the only one left in the world, and it's an amazing piece of engineering.

You know who else could? The American Physical Society. They held their annual conference in Las Vegas in 1986. They (and the 56,000 physicists they represent) are barred from returning.

4000 physicists descended on the MGM Grand (now Bal

Peppermill

[drinkypoo]

'nuff said [google.com]

They already know

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

One professor involved in the study reached this conclusion. "It is possible that
simply dimming the blue in casino lights could help promote safer gambling behaviors."

Trust me, the casinos have already figured this out and are using it to increase gambling and maximize revenue. To think otherwise would be adorably naive.

Casino are designed to get you to spend money, from the lighting to the carpet and everything in between. I promise you the casinos already know all about blue light and its effect on impulse control, mood, and emotion.

lol

[cascadingstylesheet]

Casinos will do everything legal - and probably a few things that aren't - to part you from your money.

Anyone doubting that should not be walking into one.