It won’t be wrong to say that music can have a significant influence on many aspects of our lives. A number of recent studies have found that music affects the human body on a neurological level – it shapes our perception of reality and impacts our psychology.
You might have noted that background music is often present in gambling environments and it has been found to influence gambler’s behaviour. Both land-based and online casino operators have paid close attention to the effect of music on gambling and used it to their advantage. In fact, music has inspired some great live dealer games as well. Read on to know more about the psychology of music in gambling environments.
Music in casinos
Music is an important psychological tool that is used to create a certain atmosphere in casinos. The objective of music in casinos games is to make gamblers feel relaxed and comfortable while gambling. This increases the chances of players spending more time on their favourite casino games. The more time one spends at a particular casino, the likelihood of them spending more money increases dramatically.
The background music played in casino games can either arouse excitement in the gamblers or lull them into a soothing sense of comfort. Along with brick and mortar casinos, online gambling sites have started offering soundtracks that can affect gambling behaviour to a great extent.
Music used in slot machine gambling
Music is an important aspect of many slot machines – particularly the ones that feature films, TV shows and video games. The music produced by the slot machines is important in a player’s impression formation about the machine and the game. The quality of the music offered by a particular slot machine is very important as many gamblers judge the gameplay based on the quality of music.
Today, many casino operators use music to create a distinctive feature that is memorable to most gamblers and that may promote further gambling. A particular piece of music can send out a signal that a player has won the game, both to the player and others in the casino studio. This helps in raising the self-esteem of the player and may lead to further play. As the coins create a sound a winning, music can create the illusion that winning is more common than losing on a slot machine.
Absence of music in some gambling environments
Some gambling environments, including bookmakers, don’t play any kind of background music. This is because it would obviously interfere with both the broadcasting of the event and the other betting information being given out. Although the absence of music in these environments have a marginal effect, its implications are worth considering.
The lack of music limits arousal allows the gambler to focus on the loss. It lowers the concentration level of the gambler. Given that there is seldom any music, gambler’s concentration levels may be negatively affected as there is no facilitating effect from the background music. The only background noise that the gambler can hear is the broadcast commentary on sporting events.
