Casinos and Religion

This past week I had the "pleasure" to get to spend an hour at a local casino. I don't like casinos. They are sad and depressing and I don't understand the "thrill" of gambling. I was with someone who loves to play "the machines", ie the "slot machines".

What I found fascinating is the link between religion and gambling on a slot machine. Slot machines, if you are like me and didn't know what they are like today --apart from tv shows--, are essentially random pattern generators that allow for a vast array of "betting options" and a vast array of potential "winning patterns". The pitiful part is that there's no need for the complexity. It's just there as window dressing. You are still down to pushing a button and random things pop up on the screen. If you bet 1 point you will get a specific payout for the randomly generated pattern, if you bet 2 points a different pay out, but the whole thing is the result of single button push. You are really only making a meaningful choice in choosing how much to bet at any one time.

I suspect the "complexity" introduced by the manufacturer is to give you a sense that you are actually doing something more "exciting" than giving a machine money and pushing a button.

But what is even more fascinating is that there' s a couple different ways to "push the button". You can either push the "Place Bet Button followed by the Spin Button" or you can push the "Bet Max Button" or you can, on some machines, also pull a lever on the side.

Now I don't know much about the "mechanical machines", but recall that the fully electronic machines are programmed to be about as truly "random" as is possible and will never hit a "Hot streak" or be "primed to pay out". But I think people develop a certain sense that if they push the buttons in a specific order or "switch it around" it will help them to get a win. Or they feel there's some "pattern" they can follow to get a payout. I found myself falling into this as well...just naturally! And within 5 to 10 pushes of the button. It was a sense that I had to find something that would "work" to get my payout or keep myself form merely quickly losing $5 in a glorified "broken change machine".

People are looking for a pattern. Even when the odds are patently and clearly against them, as they are in a casino, the pattern is still sought to make good sense out of a random set of events. To ensure a good response, or at least ensure a lack of bad response.

I see religion as that as well. We are in a statistical machine and tasked with attempting to survive it against odds we have no, or limited, control over. In some cases we don't know what it is that is working against or for us by chance. And we seek those patterns, be they "lucky actions" or talismans or prayers to an unknowable force that will ensure our success.