Slot Machines and Jackpots – How Big Wins Make Us Daydream

A slot is a machine that pays out a prize if symbols line up on a winning payline. They can be played with a paper ticket or, in “ticket-in, ticket-out” machines, cash. A player activates the machine by pressing a lever or button (either physical or on a touchscreen). The reels spin and stop randomly, revealing a set of symbols. The player earns credits based on the paytable. Symbols vary but are typically designed to align with the machine’s theme.

Whether it’s a lottery win or the stock market jackpot of a new public offering, there’s something about those mammoth wins that make us daydream. What will we do with all that money? We might spend it on a dream vacation, splurge on a designer handbag, or invest it in the next big tech company. It may be tempting to start spending like crazy, but most financial advisors would advise taking it slow after a large windfall and re-evaluating our investment goals and strategies.

In the case of slot, we may be seeing evidence of this type of behavioral change. In a recent study, we measured reward reactivity in players while they were playing slot games. Specifically, we measured arousal and force as a function of the size of the jackpots they won. Results suggest that arousal and reward reactivity are distinct from the enjoyment attributable to dark flow, and are instead associated with a different kind of play enjoyment.