The Casino Effect in UI/UX Design
It’s no secret that the job of UI/UX designers is to craft products that retain customers coming back to the casino or gambling app.
There is a simple but effective strategy for engaging consumers and increasing their desire to return to your product. Something that will bring them back even if they’ve been away for a while.
The Casino Effect
This phenomenon is a mixture of numerous psychological effects that occur simultaneously in the human brain. However most notably in the context of a casino hence that particular name.
The potency of this impact is driven by a combination of reciprocity, engagement, consistency, loss aversion, restriction, and social proof.
Here we see how it works and how it can be used.
Give a user something valuable just for registering (reciprocity)
Inquire about the items that the user enjoys and desires (engagement & consistency)
Give it to them for free for a while. Then inform them that if they don’t want it any longer, it will actually be deleted (loss aversion).
Make a one-of-a-kind, limited-time offer specifically for them (restriction)
Show the user how many people have used or will use your goods (social proof)
This design is used by plenty of apps including TikTok, LinkIn and Netflix to name but a few.
Is the Casino Effect ethical?
It’s important to remember that the casino effect is named that way because it resembles the casino. It is not necessarily about the gambling that takes place inside the casino. If you wish to know about online casinos, click here!
Casinos excel at a number of things, including:
To encourage continual play, they provide their guests a variety of stuff for free or on the house.
When you acquire your chips, they take down your name, personal information, and other useful data during check-in.
They occasionally give away free chips to get you started.
After you’ve been a few times, they’ll usually offer you a personalized deal with an expiry date.
They will nearly always treat you differently if you are a premium or platinum member. For example bottle service or a complimentary buffet, etc. They will then remind you that you must renew your subscription or your privileges will be lost.
They put you in groups with other people who are also playing and winning the games you’re playing.
All of these are designed to do one thing and that is to get you hooked.
You become used to a certain level of experience, and then you are told that unless you act soon, you will lose it.
Almost everyone will do whatever it takes to keep the dopamine flowing, including parting with a significant sum of money. This is because we make decisions emotionally and then explain them with logic; not the other way around.
The Casino Effect’s ethical implications
As UI/UX designers, the most pressing question is: how ethical is the casino effect? Is it possible to craft a user interface for a casino application without causing harm?
The solution isn’t as straightforward as one would hope. To be honest, any use of casino effect is definitely not completely legit. But there is one thing that casinos don’t do that you can do to make it far more ethical.
To be honest, any use of casino effect is definitely not completely legit. But there is one thing that casinos don’t do that you can do to make it far more ethical.
Make the exits prominent.
The majority of casinos conceal the exits on purpose. They don’t have clocks on the walls, and they offer free food, beverages, and vouchers to encourage guests to remain as long as possible.
There are a couple of things that must be done in order to craft the casino effect ethically.
Make the exits visible and easy to find.
Make the cancellation procedure as straightforward as possible.
These enable the user to exit a situation that they do not want to be in.
They allow the user to go back and change their mind if they don’t like it or it doesn’t work for them.