The sounds we hear have a significant impact on our everyday lives. Music can change or amplify our feelings, so if we feel pleased, we should listen to music that intensifies our joy if we feel glad. It is also the same case. When we feel depressed, some songs can worsen our mood or make us happy.
Despite the increase in popularity of the gambling sector as a recreational activity, there has been no research examining the direct influence of music on gambling behaviour. Fortunately, an exploratory observational study was conducted on gambling arcades to discuss how melodies are used as background music in the gaming venues and how the sound effects implemented in the slot machines impact the players. Here are the psychological results of music in gambling environments.
Melodies Can Influence Gambling Behaviour
A recent study was conducted in a supermarket where loud music was exposed. This study aimed to evaluate the customers’ shopping rate and their expenditure per minute in the store when they hear the songs. The results disclosed that the customers’ spending in a shop with high music was the same in a supermarket where relaxing songs were exposed. In the case of gambling area, players may spend more because gambling behaviour is limited to factors including event frequency.
Music of all genres can influence spending and perceptions of gambling at American casinos listed at NonGamStopSlots.com or any other portal. The psychologists Adrian North, David Hargreaves, and J. McKendrick explained “The influence of in-store music on wine selections” in their book. Their study measures how stereotypically French and German music can influence the customers’ selections of the French and German wines in the supermarket over two weeks.
French and German music was played on rotate, and the French songs were the factors pushing French wines outselling, whereas German melodies were barriers to the sales of French wine. Responses to the research showed that the customers’ product choices are influenced by the music they hear.
Slot Machines’ Musical Background Affect the Gambler’s Subconscious
Sound effects have become an integral part of slot machines. Further research showed that music implemented on the slots aims to stimulate impulsive gambling behaviour in the players. The new devices require outstanding melodies designed with exciting themes such as films, television shows, adventure, etc. The background sounds in slot games can influence the gamblers’ experience and behaviour.
When hearing the music of different genres, they will mentally be transported into the game’s world, which will impact their mood. The melodies are associated with the four features: the quality of the slot machines, familiarity, distinctiveness, and sound of winning. In the game’s quality aspect, the quality of the sound effects is essential because most gamblers assimilate the machine’s quality with the music’s quality. Therefore, when the machine is designed with stunning melodies, they have become appreciated among the players. In the familiarity aspect, the musical background implemented in the slots is significant in creating familiarity. It is one of the ways how iGaming operators entertain their customers using psychology.
The research conducted by Griffiths and Dunbar in 1997 on the role of familiarity in fruit machine gambling resulted that the slots’ titles and sounds they emit playing a key role in acquiring gambling behaviour. Moreover, the distinctiveness shows that the songs in the slot games can create unique features that are memorable to gamblers and may facilitate further gambling. The sound of winning implies that music from the slot games is vital in creating that winning sound. For example, when the players make a winning combination, the sounds they hear improve their self-esteem and intensify their enjoyment.
Music has the Potential to Boost Arousal and Performance
The tune is vital to enhance thrill and excitement. A study was conducted in the cafeteria to examine how music influenced the customers’ views of the environment and their purchase intentions. The results revealed that pop music made the view of the cafeteria’s customers optimistic and confident, so they wanted to pay more for the foods they had ordered.
However, they feel that they were not in a peaceful environment when hearing pop music. The classic music in the cafeteria scored lowest in terms of optimism factor, but it can lead to the feelings of elegance and high class in the customers. The absence of music in the cafeteria resulted in a lack of confidence, but it provided a sense of peacefulness to the customers. The psychologists Adrian North and David Hargreaves concluded in their book “The Functions of Music in Everyday Life: Redefining the Social in Music Psychology 1999” that the social functions of music are demonstrated in three principal options.
These include mood, management of self-identity, and interpersonal relationships. As a result, the absence of music in the gambling environments lowers players’ concentration levels and gambling experience, limits their arousal, and reduces their motivation to play the games.
Music plays an essential role in the gambling sector because it can influence gambling behaviour, improve the gambling experience, and encourage players to keep playing.
Based on the research and study, slot games can be more appealing or dull depending on the background songs. In the land-based and online slots, the sound effects are among the crucial criteria to the players, so the games with magnificent melodies are attractive. Music has been linked to gambling as it can potentially initiate players’ participation and maintain their behaviour.
