During a Christmas gathering with friends, Neil Walshe found himself in a pokies room, a setting typical in Australian pubs, filled with the typical flashing lights and jingles of slot machines. While there, he suddenly noticed the absence of any sounds indicating losses, prompting a significant realisation about the pokies experience in Australia, where nearly all machines lack audible cues for lost bets. Instead, players are left with the euphoric sounds of wins or silence, leading to a phenomenon addiction experts describe as “losses disguised as wins.”
Walshe, feeling troubled by this realisation, questioned the impact of this sound design on casual gamblers, propelling him to conduct his own research. He acquired a poker machine, modified it to emit a distinct sound when players lost—an intentional bleep reminiscent of video game failures—and tested it with casual players. Despite the legal risks involved in tampering with gambling machines, he believed the potential benefits justified his efforts in exposing the manipulative nature of gaming sounds.
The findings from his small-scale test were telling. Participants voiced their dislike for the losing sounds, prompting them to reassess their spending habits. Walshe observed that the sound effectively slowed down their gambling, as players became more aware of their losses. Dan Myles, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, supported Walshe’s findings. He suggested that incorporating loss sounds could help balance the skewed perceptions of winning and losing experienced by players, who often overestimate their wins due to the absence of negative cues.
As Australians reportedly lose approximately $31.5 billion annually to gambling, particularly through pokies, stories of addiction’s devastating effects emerge. One such story involves a man named Brad, whose wife’s secret gambling led to a financial disaster for their family, highlighting the real personal toll of gambling addiction.
Walshe’s push for legislative change, aiming to introduce loss sounds to pokies, is seen as a challenging endeavour against the powerful gambling industry, valued at $12 billion. He remains hopeful that even a minor adjustment could spur broader gambling reforms. Asserting that change is possible, he draws on the government’s swift response to public health crises during COVID-19 as a precedent.
For those affected by gambling issues, various support services are available, including the National Gambling Helpline at 1800 858 858 and Lifeline at 13 11 14.