It’s no secret that playing a game or two at a casino is fun and exciting. A visit to the casino has long been a preferred form of recreation for many Canadians, and from Toronto to Vancouver, there are casinos that are usually close to full – outside of the pandemic period, at least. For the vast majority of casino users, it remains just that – fun, and something that can be walked away from. For a small number of people, however, an outing to the casino can become addictive, and that’s no accident.

What many people don’t know is that casinos and the games that they make available are very cleverly designed to cause players of all varieties and walks of life to remain on the property and to play over and over. What appears on the surface to be a venue of fun and leisure is in fact the product of very fine and precise calibration on the part of the game developers. This article will explore in more detail just what goes into a casino game to make it so addictive, and it will also explore particular features of both online and real-world casinos that are designed to make you come back for more.

Exploiting the brain

On a neurological and psychological level, casinos take advantage of something that is ever-present in our brains. The human brain is hardwired to look for benefits that keep us alive, such as resources, and this goes back to the age in which our ancestors were forced to hunt for food. But our brains still secrete a chemical known as dopamine when we receive what we’re looking for.

And as a mechanism for securing some sort of reward or benefit, our brains make sure that we feel good when we get the resource we're after. In a gambling context, every win – or even every notification in a cleverly designed online casino – triggers that dopamine hit, and we want to come back for more.

Excitement and tension

But triggering a dopamine release is not quite enough. Online casinos such as CasinoTopsOnline.com, know that they need to take certain steps to push their players into a mode in which they keep seeking out more and more games, and they rise to the challenge. Physical casinos do this by creating an atmosphere of excitement and tension, and allowing this to rise to the fore all the time.

In-person casinos also know their audience. They often create environments in which the players’ desired modes of wealth are on show. They may do this by employing glamorous or smartly-dressed staff, or by adding other affectations of wealth and privilege, such as the sale of certain drinks like champagne. This, in turn, pushes the player to place more bets in the hope that they can win enough money to either acquire or sustain the lifestyle on display.

Online casinos

The Internet revolution has created opportunities for almost every business sector to optimize itself through low-cost and scalable experimentation and data gathering. This is especially true for the world of casino gambling, which has used the vast demand for online casino games to work out exactly what keeps users coming back for more.

Features that online casinos have noticed are addictive include the use of the bonus as a tool. Casino bonuses are available almost across the board, and promise benefits such as free spins. In some cases, these can benefit the player if used strategically, but in other cases, they can simply lure in players to deposit and play more and more in the hope of eventually winning some money.

And there’s also something to be said for the fact that online gambling opportunities can be easily found and just as easily anonymized. The rise in popularity of Bitcoin-based gambling deposits means that gambling deposits can be made without loved ones accidentally discovering them and challenging the player, which may reduce the mental hurdles some people face when signing up to new sites or playing further games.

Casinos are designed with addiction and repeat play in mind. From bonus offers to exploiting neurological tendencies, there are all sorts of features that aim to perpetuate this cycle. The interesting moral question, however, is the extent to which casinos ought to rein in this sort of behaviour. For regulators, addictive casino games are a real target – and it’s not out of the question that governments in Canada and beyond will take tougher action if problem gambling continues to be an issue.