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We have all been subjected to the experience of seemingly losing time, whether that’s because we’ve become so engrossed in a book or a video game, or have just simply lost grip on it through mindful relaxation. The loss of time also famously happens at land-based casinos, where the environment often minimises cues about the time of day.
Stroll around the casinos of Las Vegas, for example, and you’ll find no windows and no clocks on the casino floor and any player that walks into the environment immediately gets sucked into a bubble where time is irrelevant. This encourages players to focus on the games, often without realising how much time has passed.
What Happens at Home
Today, many people enjoy gambling without ever setting foot in a land-based casino. That’s because of the huge online iGaming industry, where people have convenient access to online casinos at any time of day or night. To engage customers, gambling sites often use promotions that aren’t found in physical venues, such as free spins no wagering requirements. These incentives allow players to try out slots without spending their own money.
Whether playing with bonuses or their own funds, the question remains: is the perception of time the same in an online casino as in a land-based one? While online casinos can’t employ the same environment-based cues as their physical counterparts, they still offer engaging experiences that can make players lose track of time.
Rapid Gameplay
Online slots typically have a much faster rate of play than those in land-based casinos. From the time the spin button is pressed to the final result of that spin, only a very short moment has passed, and the button is ready to be hit again. There’s almost a continuous loop of action, and because of this rapid play, players can easily lose track of time when gaming.
There’s another essential element at work here as well. It takes a player almost no time to switch from one slot game to the next, or even to jump from a slot machine over to a live dealer table. In a land-based casino, players can get lost in time wandering around the casino floor looking for something to play. In contrast, at an online casino, there can be very little pause between different games in a frictionless experience.
That means a player may fall into the trap of zoning out more easily, where they forget to keep an eye on the length of their session. The icing on the cake is a casino lobby which allows players to scroll through a seemingly endless catalogue of games, making it harder for people to leave the site.
The Online Tricks
There are subtle tricks that online casinos use in their favour, and one is by hosting games that are extremely engaging and stimulating. Games can easily lull people into a flow state through sensory overload of animations, sounds and engaging visual effects that accompany a win.
Everything from the colours and layouts of a game is designed to keep a player fully fixated, and the more that a player is sucked into the bubble of attention, the less that anything outside of that game exists. That means that cognitive resources aren’t going to be pulled away to go and check what time it is.
However, online casino games are played on devices which have clocks, like a phone or a computer. This makes it easier to stay aware of how long they’ve been playing. On top of that, UK-licensed online casinos are required to include tools that help users keep track of their sessions. The UK Gambling Commission’s technical standards, for example, state that if a game hides the device’s clock in full screen, the system itself should display either the current time or how long the session has lasted.
The Gamification Factor
Just like at a land-based casino, there is an identical gamification factor that can make people lose time. Gamification is essentially the inherent nature of gambling, and something that modern video slots have tapped into more and more by introducing more innovative features.
Players feel incentivised to keep playing because the “next” reward always seems like it’s within touching distance. When that gambling factor is coupled with things like bonuses and loyalty rewards, it accentuates this feeling.
Responsible Play
Online casinos offer countless games, and it’s easy to jump from one to the next. With colourful features and constant action, players can sometimes lose track of time much like they might in a land-based venue. The difference, though, is that licensed platforms in the UK are required to include safe gambling tools to help players stay in control. These can be simple to use and are worth knowing about:
- Reality checks – pop-up reminders at set intervals that let you know how long you’ve been playing.
- Time-outs – short breaks that you can activate yourself, pausing play for a few hours or even a day.
- Time trackers – built-in displays that show either the current time or your session length.
On top of these, you can always set a timer on your phone or computer as a straightforward way to keep an eye on the clock. It will help to ensure that online gambling remains a safe form of entertainment and not a black hole into which time gets sucked.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
