Online casinos have rapidly acquired popularity among consumers since their launch in the early 2000s. The concept of internet entertainment was still relatively new at the time, and the range of leisure possibilities was considerably narrower than it is now. Players frequently selected between online games in which they competed against a real opponent and simple online games.
The internet entertainment sector has advanced significantly over time. Players may now pick from thousands of high-end items with superb visuals, organize online tournaments, and even explore fictional worlds using accessories for games with virtual and augmented reality aspects. A casino online, along with online games, is still one of the most popular types of entertainment on the Internet, with an army of admirers expanding every year.
But why are online casinos so attractive from a psychological point of view?
Psychological types of gamblers
The more a gamer is into gambling, the more money and time he spends on them. However, there is still luck and approach.
Among those who can’t imagine their lives without games, there are several groups:
- “Fleeing from issues.” They want to “forget”, relax, and get away from stress.
- “The lucky ones” (“they’re about to hit the jackpot”). A typical representative of this type is an active man about 30 years old, decisive and assertive. Such people consider it their duty to be better than others and seek to hack the system.
- “Brilliant mathematicians”. They are confident in the existence of a certain sequence and are trying to calculate the winnings.
The feeling of happiness in anticipation of winning is associated with an increase in the level of dopamine, the pleasure hormone.
At the same time, the random nature of the reward serves to consolidate the habit. Subsequently, this pushes the person to look for fun and thrills in the game again and again.
The attractiveness of online casinos
- Online casinos offer benefits that their land-based counterparts can’t match. It is more convenient to play at an online casino; they have lower operating costs and provide players with the opportunity to bet in total anonymity – all of which are significant benefits that traditional casinos will never be able to match.
- The development of live internet casinos has been accompanied by more advanced gaming programs, built-in e-cash systems, and improved realism (through cameras, live remote betting, and player and dealer avatars). All of these enabling elements are intertwined.
- Instant reward is the main distinction between online casinos and traditional land-based casinos. This is also one of the reasons for the growing popularity of online gambling games. There are many thousands of online casinos on the Internet nowadays, and the number is increasing every year. Casinos are continuously coming up with new strategies to attract visitors in order to stay ahead of the competition and develop their player base.
- Almost every online casino now offers a “welcome bonus” to new clients. This is a sentence where the player’s score is increased numerous times by multipliers. If a new player deposits $5 after registering, and the bonus offer includes a multiplier that doubles the game balance, the user’s account will show $10 instead of $5. Furthermore, nearly all new player offers include free games. In this situation, the player is also given a set of slot spins or other games to play.
Moreover, one of the key reasons why online behavior differs from an offline activity is because it provides a ‘disinhibiting’ experience. Disinhibition has the effect of lowering people’s emotional guard on the internet, allowing them to act with far less restraint and inhibition.
Satisfying natural needs
Sociologists argue that gambling activities might momentarily satisfy aspects of our instinctive, expressive needs, such as competitiveness. Gambling has been shown to be an effective way to exhibit competitive instincts.
To explain the link between gambling and competition, Erving Goffman, a sociologist from the United States, proposed the ‘deprivation–compensation‘ theory. He said that because contemporary society is so stable, competitive impulses are no longer put to the test. Gambling, as a result, is a self-created, manufactured state of insecurity that may be used to put competitive skills to the test.
Again, online live-action casino gaming may cater to such natural desires.
Selectivity of our memory
Indeed, memory has long been known to preserve events with intense emotional experiences longer than those we judge to be the most significant. Where else in everyday life can you get such an adrenaline rush rather than at a gaming table or slot machine? What a whirlwind of feelings the gamer is going through!
But the most interesting aspect is that a person’s passions are roughly similar in strength regardless of whether they win or lose. Our memory is more inclined to preserve precise “winning” emotions and conveniently inserts them when a player is debating whether to place another wager, visit a real or online casino.
In turn, the gaming establishment will do everything it can to imprint the moments when good fortune smiled on the visitor in his mind: congratulations, greater attention, free prosecco – everything to heighten the emotional component of winning.
Summary
To sum up, there are various aspects to the psychology of online casinos:
- First and foremost, there are powerful emotions that are rarely encountered in ordinary life. Boredom and sorrow can be relieved by gambling.
- Competition is the second crucial element. A person competes with the dealer, the other players, probability theory, and, eventually, and, most importantly, with themselves.
Source: Glusea