In the 2022 World Cup, while Argentina took home the title, there was another clear winner: the gambling industry. Spectators around the globe wagered an estimated $35 billion, making it one of the most bet-on events in sports history.
Over the past decade, sports gambling has become more popular than ever. Mobile apps make it easier to place bets anywhere or anytime, especially for young people in their early 20s, who make up the fastest-growing gambling demographic. The industry's success, however, is no coincidence. In fact, sports betting apps work just like the games you'd find in a casino. They’re strategically designed in ways that are known to keep you playing and paying— ensuring that, in the end, the house always wins.
So, what exactly are the tricks these apps use?
It’s estimated that Americans lost $60 billion gambling online and in casinos in 2022 alone. While losing might seem like a deterrent, infrequent wins are actually a key reason gambling can feel so enticing. One of the best ways to motivate any behavior— whether posting on social media, swiping on a dating app, or placing a bet— is to grant a reward at random and unpredictable intervals. The reason for this likely lies in uncertainty’s effect on the brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that mediates feelings of pleasure and is released when we do things we enjoy and when we receive rewards. Its release is what motivates us to seek out the sensation again. In certain brain areas, this dopamine release is highest, not when the rewards are the biggest, but rather when you're unsure whether you'll even receive them.
This draw to unpredictability can be a good thing. Evolutionarily, it may have been beneficial for our ancestors to seek out situations with uncertain rewards, like investigating new locations for food. But when it comes to something like a casino game or a sports betting app, this behavior can create a vicious and expensive cycle.
Another feature these games manipulate is timing. Slot machines, for example, are notoriously mesmerizing, thanks in part to how quickly you move from placing a bet to seeing the result to placing your next one. This frequency, paired with uncertainty, is thought to induce what researchers call dark flow. You may feel as if you are in the zone, completely absorbed in the game. Yet a key characteristic of any flow state is that it often feels more difficult to stop than to keep going. To capitalize on this, sports betting apps have introduced in-play bets, which are wagers that users can place during the game on moment-to-moment events.
Finally, near-misses can feel particularly thrilling. This is when, for example, a slot machine reveals a cherry... a cherry... and then a seven. Brain imaging studies show that the anticipation built up in that last reveal activates the same brain regions as winning does. So even though near-misses are ultimately losses, they actually increase our desire to continue playing. That’s why some slot machines are actually designed to hit near-misses more often than they should. Sports can naturally lead to near-miss situations, yet gambling apps have found ways to exploit them further. Parlays, for example, are when bets on multiple events or outcomes are tied into the same wager. If any single bet loses, then the entire wager is lost, easily creating a near-miss situation.
While these tactics work on brains of all ages, young people may be especially at risk. During adolescence, dopamine-related reward regions of the brain mature rapidly, making teens more vulnerable to developing gambling problems. And while 18 is the legal age limit for gambling in most countries, these same psychological tactics are now increasingly found in games marketed directly to teens and children. For example, many games contain loot boxes, where players can spend real money to gain unpredictable prizes.
The global gambling industry racks in hundreds of billions of dollars every year. Yet it’s estimated that anywhere from 15 to 50% of that revenue comes from people with gambling problems. We can’t change that our brains are drawn to gambling tactics. The industry clearly knows this and is cashing in.
