ABSTRACT
Drawing on research from a number of countries, this chapter makes the case that modern forms of commercialised gambling are designed to entrap players. Combined with increased accessibility, seductive venue and site design, and transformations brought about by technological innovation, much gambling can now be described as deceptive. Electronic gambling machines and online sports betting are structured in such a way that gamblers are continually being misled about their chances of winning. The research reviewed shows how volatility disguises the operator’s advantage, why information about payback percentage is misleading, the importance of skewed distributions of wins, and other ways of seducing gamblers into spending more, such as near misses, complex and in-play bets, and the illusion of skill and control. The concept of ‘losses disguised as wins’, introduced through Canadian research on machine gambling, throws light on the deceptiveness of modern commercial gambling of any type.
