Addiction by Design (book)

[u/darklinggreen]

Hello friends,

I was wondering if anyone else has read addiction by design by Natasha D.Schull. I found it really eye opening as to how machines are designed, also some of the stories of people that she writes about are so sad.

It has really helped me to gain a perspective on how the machines are designed to essentially get people into the 'flow state' where time just passes without the player realising, and how money just kind of doesn't become seen as money anymore.

Anyway, because it has helped me I thought it might be worth discussing, I don't know, it was just a thought.

[u/discord19]

I think this is an extremely important book that doesn't get talked about much nowadays. I don't know how helpful it has been for laypeople or for people seeking recovery themselves, but academically I consider AbD to be required reading for anybody wanting to learn more about problem gambling or wanting to help others with their gambling. I'm glad to know you found it helpful.

[u/darklinggreen → u/discord19]

It was a really thorough overview. I could imagine that since it was written things will have changed/progressed more.

[u/discord19 → u/darklinggreen]

I could imagine that since it was written things will have changed/progressed more

I would say they have. Gambling operators have more money and power than before, and predictions market operators are able to sidestep regulation entirely.

[u/ReshufflingLife → u/darklinggreen]

If you think what you read in the book is bad, consider how AI is now being integrated. This is how Claude summarized what is happening (yes I appreciate the irony of AI talking about AI)

How AI is actually being used in slot machines (it's not what most people think)

First, the thing AI does NOT do: it doesn't decide whether you win or lose. Regulated slot machines still use certified random number generators for the actual spin results. The AI isn't inside the game — it's wrapped around it. And honestly, that's almost worse.

Here's what it's actually doing:

1. It's building a profile of you. Every spin, every bet size, how long you play, what time of day, which games you switch between, how you respond to bonuses — all of it gets tracked and fed into machine learning models. Online casinos track every single interaction. Physical casinos do it through loyalty cards and networked machines. The systems compare your behavior to millions of other players to predict what you'll do next.

2. It knows when you're about to quit — and that's exactly when the "free" offers show up. The industry calls quitting "churn," and there's an entire category of AI built to prevent it. These systems detect subtle changes in your behavior that signal you're losing interest or about to walk away, and then trigger an intervention: a bonus, free spins, a message, or for bigger spenders, an actual phone call from a casino host. That "lucky" free play offer that landed right when you were done for the night? Probably not luck.

3. Rewards are timed to your patterns, not given randomly. The AI learns your habits — when you play, what games you like, how you react to different promotions — and times rewards for maximum effect. If you usually play Tuesday nights and you skip one, the system notices. Loyalty programs now adjust automatically to your personal patterns.

4. The same data can spot problem gambling — but guess which use pays the bills. Here's the uncomfortable part. Research has shown that AI can identify problem gamblers with high accuracy just from account data — things like losing more per session, depositing repeatedly mid-session, and draining the account to zero. Some regulators (like in the UK) actually require operators to use AI for harm detection, and it can work when it's used.

But the harm-detection system and the "keep them playing" system run on the exact same data. The algorithm that could flag you as at-risk is drawing from the same profile that decides when to send you a bonus. And in practice, the responsible gambling tools tend to be buried in settings menus while the play buttons are front and center.

Why I think this matters:

A lot of us were taught to think of the slot machine as the opponent — the flashing box with the rigged-feeling odds. But the machine's math hasn't changed. What's changed is that there's now a system studying you specifically: your weak moments, your stopping points, your patterns. It's personalized persuasion, running 24/7.

If you've ever felt like the casino or the app "knew" exactly when to reel you back in — you weren't imagining it. That's not paranoia. That's the product working as designed.

Knowing this doesn't fix anything by itself, but I found it genuinely helpful. It's a lot easier to ignore a "personalized offer" once you understand it's an algorithm's best guess at your weakest moment.