Uncovering Rivlins View on Gambling in Bet on It - Essay Example

Uncovering Rivlin’s View on Gambling in “Bet On It” Gary Rivlin exposes so much more than just the basic truths about the slot machine; it is more than just an explanation on how these “so easy to learn to play and seemingly harmless” machines were crafted and designed to become the front-liners of today’s casinos. His essay opens our eyes to the reality that, although our present society has come up with a brilliant way to generate billions, we have abandoned all wit and have allowed ourselves to become foolish slaves of the slot machine. Rivlin employs a variety of literary devices to show us this point. He presents a variety of characters, from the brains behind the slot machines of the century to anonymous players who have fallen prey to the charms of this cunning device. The points of view shift according to these characters, which effectively presents the different sides of the story while driving home Rivlin’s point: that the slot machine, though highly profitable, is an alarming addiction that is eating today’s society and contributing to its degradation. Rivlin states that “today’s slot machines feature well-choreographed illusions designed to hide a fundamental truth: at heart they’re really nothing more than computers whose chips randomly cycle through hundreds of thousands of numbers every second,” but the players stupidly and trustingly throw their fate into these chips. His essay starts with Anthony Baerlocher, chief game designer for International Game Technology (IGT) in Reno, Nevada. Rivlin tells about how Baerlocher goes about Atlantis Casino inspecting and admiring his machines and mocking those who play with them. Baerlocher condescendingly laughs at those who get hooked to and are conned by the “Wheel of Fortune,” a seemingly simple game that constitutes spinning a wheel, as in the game show, but one which effectively rakes in billions of dollars compared to Electronic Arts’ 14-year-old Madden N.F.I. Football. He has an amused smile as he looks on, telling us that he has seen this happen a lot of times before in the course of his rounds in different casinos. Ten paragraphs away, we are introduced to Baerlocher’s boss, the big man behind today’s slot machines produced by IGT, Joe Kaminkow. A flashback of how IGT was faring in the industry before Kaminkow came aboard makes us realize how phenomenal his arrival to the company, and to the industry as a whole, had been. Rivilin did not present Kaminkow with a sardonic smile; Kaminkow, in fact, was a kinder man. He was a lot more sensitive to the responses and needs of slot machine players. His sensitivity allowed him to design machines that were able “to hook so deeply into the player’s cerebral cortex.” This clearly shows that the slot machine has power over the emotions and has become an addiction. The message that playing the slot machine has become an addiction was supported by statements from authorities in the fields that deal with addiction. After presenting the truth about how these machines were designed, Rivlin reinforced these by presenting statements that confirmed the effectiveness of the designs. Nancy Petry, psychiatry professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, clearly puts the message into words when she said, “No other form of gambling manipulates the human mind as beautifully as these machines.” All throughout the essay, we are given a glimpse of the unnamed but well-described slot machine players. The typical gambling stereotypes provide examples of the extent at which these slot machines have greatly affected us. The couple observed by Baechlor in the fifth paragraph is one of the first examples of how people allow themselves to be subtly tricked into spending more than they realize by the promise of winning something big. Baechlor confirms that this couple’s trusting disposition is mirrored by many others when he says, “You can see it on their faces every time…They feel they came soooo close. They’re ready to try it again, because next time they’re going to get it.” Rivlin mentions another character that illustrates how disorienting and intoxicating the promises of winning a game in the slot machine can be. He presents Ricky Brumfield, a mother of two, who fell into debt nine months after she won $3700 after she first played a slot machine. Brumfield’s addiction clearly messed with her sensibilities when she locked her two young kids inside her car in a casino parking lot so that she can play inside. She says “I knew it was really wrong to do this, but the urge to go into the casino was stronger than my instincts as a mother.” Aside from messing with the human mind’s ability to know right from wrong, Rivlin also presents how mentally degrading slot machines can be. As opposed to card games that require concentrating, scheming, and strategizing, slot machines do not need complex mental processes. He tells of a man who says that he enjoys playing these machines because “I don’t have to think.” This is further reinforced by a statement that Rivlin gathered from Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., head of the American Gaming Association. Fahrenkopf disappointedly says “I don’t know if it’s the education system, or maybe it’s that we as a society have gotten intellectually lazy…But people would rather just sit there and push a button.” Rivlin employs irony to further drive his point home. He asks other IGT insiders about their opinion in playing the slot machine. Ironically, they do not support the machine that has taken the rest of the gambling world by storm. They have pretty violent reactions about it and to quote, “When I asked one IGT artist if he ever plays, he acted as if I had insulted him. ‘Slots are for losers,’ he spat…” Although he is amazed at what a major share the gambling industry has, I believe that Rivlin personally despises gambling. His essay is didactic but not overbearing; it informs and instructs by presenting all his arguments flat down, but I would say that he did not impose his opinion on the reader. His message was pretty clear and he emphasizes that just like any addiction the happiness that you get out of playing and winning a game in the slot machine is temporary. In his final paragraph, he presents the story of an undercover cop about a woman who bet a dollar and won $5000 but never smiled despite her winnings. Michael Lask, the undercover cop, was quoted by Rivlin saying “I’ll tell you, she probably lost $10, 000 to win that $5,000. And she knows that next week she’ll be giving that $5, 000 back.” Post-draft Outline I. Introduction: thesis statement “Slot machines are cleverly designed machines that alarmingly feed the addiction and contribute to the deterioration of today’s society.” II. Character 1: Anthony Baerlocher He has helped develop a simple yet subtly manipulative machine that has managed to generate billions out of unsuspecting and foolish casino players. III. Character 2: Joe Kaminkow He spearheaded industry-changing efforts in slot machine design by tuning into the emotional needs of casino goers. IV. Character 3: Nancy Petry This psychiatry professor confirmed that indeed the designers have succeeded in crafting an incredibly manipulative gambling machine. V. Character 4: the unsuspecting couple Just like a lot of other slot machine advocates, this couple unknowingly spends more than they realize by pinning their hopes on winning a big jackpot, explaining the effectivity of the machine in luring millions of American players. VI. Character 5: Ricky Brumfield The slot machine is clearly as addictive as any drug: Ricky confesses that the urge to play was stronger than her natural instinct to care for her children. VII. Character 6: Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. The slot machine is so simple to play compared to card games that you no longer need skill, concentration, and strategy: it contributes to society’s intellectual laziness. VIII. Character 7: IGT insider perspective Slots are for losers. IX. Character 8: Michael Lask, undercover cop Rivlin summarizes his point through Lask’s story: after a few moments of temporary happiness brought by playing the slot machine, you’ll realize the extent of the damage that this addiction has done, and in reality you really have lost more than you have wagered. Read More