Understanding the Slot Machine Zone

Abstract

The slot machine zone describes a ‘trance-like’ state of diminished attention to time passing and gambling-irrelevant events during Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) use. This article summarizes two prominent theoretical accounts of this state and articulates a new account that seeks to integrate them. Zone experiences are correlated with gambling problems and may be amplified by specific features of EGMs and other modern gambling formats. Links with excitement, relaxation, and depression have been found, implicating both positive and negative reinforcement processes. Emerging evidence suggests gamblers in the zone are more focused on EGM use (‘zoned in’). Models rooted in either Flow Theory or dissociation do not fully account for these effects. Integrating earlier models, we propose a continuum of gambling immersion as a function of problem gambling severity. Cognitive studies aimed at clarifying the psychological nature of immersion will help inform programmes that treat and prevent gambling harm.