The Guardian reports..
Online casinos will be forced to overhaul slot machine games to slow them down and remove features that cause players to lose track of how much they are spending.
In a series of curbs likely to reduce the industry’s £2.2bn-a-year revenue from online slot machines, the Gambling Commission has told companies based in Great Britain to dilute their intensity and remove potentially misleading features.
There will have to be a gap of at least 2.5 seconds in between spins, and firms will also have to remove “auto-play” options, where players can set the slot machine to spin on its own multiple times. This can lead to gamblers not paying attention to how much they are losing, the regulator said.
Slot machines will also be barred from playing positive-sounding noises or music when a player has lost money. The feature is part of a phenomenon known as “losses disguised as wins”, which tricks players into thinking they have enjoyed a positive outcome when they have actually lost, enticing them to bet more.
Companies will also have to abolish features that give players the “illusion of control”, when in fact the spins are determined by a random outcome generator.
Read more at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/02/uk-gambling-firms-online-slot-machines
