Jul 2, 2026 · 1 hr 9 min · 10 segments
In this episode Jerry and Stably discussed Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas by Natasha Dow Schüll. The academic ethnography examines how slot…
So how do we tackle this? I think we should just talk about it.
People can, but I, Okay, so this book is, as Stanley says, an ethnography and it's an academic book.
But it kind of rides that line where the subject matter she's got is so interesting and so gripping that she has to work really hard to make it dry and boring.
So, as Stanley says, the book is written very dryly.
She's... you know, like it's not a fun book to read necessarily, but, um, the stories and the, just the facts that she uncovers are so interesting that they make up for it, I guess is, is what I would say.
And
basically what she does is she, she basically says, um, You know, you've got gambling you got addicts, etc but it turns out that Machine gambling after it was introduced, you know, originally, you know, the action was at the tables, right? And that's what men did and the machines
Yes was kind of in
a corner and that was for the wives to like kind of pass the time waiting for their husbands Right and like nobody would be caught that actually the real gambler were gonna be caught that there and
Yeah, they were for wives, old people, and the poor.
Children, yeah.
And children, yes.
There you go, honey.
But it turns out that after they get improved a little bit, whatever, we can get into it.
They are now they are now account for like 80% of revenue for casinos and whatever so so okay Wow, and then number two it turns out that 80% of that revenue Is not from like tourists coming to Las Vegas
or even
you know, when you wherever there is gambling It's not from tourists not from people who are seeking out you know, a once every, you know, an annual, you know, trip to the whatever.
It's from locals.
It's from people who live there, get hooked, and come every day and play two hours a day every day.
So, like, that is what's making up the bulk of the sustenance of these casinos.
And so she does an ethnography of these people, but she actually starts with the machines, because she's like, look, this is not just about people.
It's about people in a union with machines.
And so it's the machines, the designers, the designs.
It's the casinos.
It's the architecture and the space and the design of the space.
So how do we tackle this? I think we should just talk about it.
People can, but I, Okay, so this book is, as Stanley says, an ethnography and it's an academic book.
But it kind of rides that line where the subject matter she's got is so interesting and so gripping that she has to work really hard to make it dry and boring.
So, as Stanley says, the book is written very dryly.
She's... you know, like it's not a fun book to read necessarily, but, um, the stories and the, just the facts that she uncovers are so interesting that they make up for it, I guess is, is what I would say.
And
basically what she does is she, she basically says, um, You know, you've got gambling you got addicts, etc but it turns out that Machine gambling after it was introduced, you know, originally, you know, the action was at the tables, right? And that's what men did and the machines
Yes was kind of in
a corner and that was for the wives to like kind of pass the time waiting for their husbands Right and like nobody would be caught that actually the real gambler were gonna be caught that there and
Yeah, they were for wives, old people, and the poor.
Children, yeah.
And children, yes.
There you go, honey.
But it turns out that after they get improved a little bit, whatever, we can get into it.
They are now they are now account for like 80% of revenue for casinos and whatever so so okay Wow, and then number two it turns out that 80% of that revenue Is not from like tourists coming to Las Vegas
or even
you know, when you wherever there is gambling It's not from tourists not from people who are seeking out you know, a once every, you know, an annual, you know, trip to the whatever.
It's from locals.
It's from people who live there, get hooked, and come every day and play two hours a day every day.
So, like, that is what's making up the bulk of the sustenance of these casinos.
And so she does an ethnography of these people, but she actually starts with the machines, because she's like, look, this is not just about people.
It's about people in a union with machines.
And so it's the machines, the designers, the designs.
It's the casinos.
It's the architecture and the space and the design of the space.
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