How casinos steal $1T annually (and why it's your turn next)

Today’s email is gonna be a banger — so sit up, lock in, and pay attention.

Because what I’m talking about is how this dirty little industry uses psychology to keep people addicted to their offer…

And make people spend 100s of thousands with them through loyalty programs, subscriptions, and even through using music and sounds.

So, let’s dive into understanding casino marketing and how you can apply it in a digital marketing context to capitalize on human behavior.

This email be mostly from a CPG / DTC viewpoint, but read it, and get creative on how you can use it in your unique situation.

( and read till the end to get the 4-step action plan to apply all this to your marketing ASAP. )

Entering The Maze: How Casinos Build Mental Prisons.

Let's start with how they get customers into the funnel in the first place.

These big casinos are tactically and directly reprogramming people’s nervous systems.

Crazy, I know.

Bill Friedman, a former gambling addict turned casino consultant was behind it all.

Didn't just design floors.

He engineered what he called "intricate mazes".

These environments were meant to do one thing — keep people focused on spending more money and playing more….

Without distraction.

If you pay attention, the next time you’re at a blackjack table…

You won’t

fancy artwork, no beautiful ceilings, and no windows showing the outside world. 

The slot machines and tables ARE the décor.

Everything else fades into brown, beige nothingness so your brain has nowhere else to focus.

Psychologically, this creates what addicts call "the zone" ( or for online marketing i’d call this a buying trace )

It’s pretty much a trance state where time, money, relationships, and even your sense of self completely dissolve.

Players describe it like being in a hypnotic bubble where nothing else exists except the next spin.

( or in your case, your offer )

Now I won’t bore you with the math, but… 

Casinos run thousands simulations testing how visitors move through different floor layouts. They track every step, every pause, every decision — then adjust machine placement and aisle width to maximize the time your brain stays hijacked

If we’re being honest; these guys are the best marketers in the world.

But it gets even crazier…

The Machine Zone: How Casinos Hijack Flow And Turn It Into Addiction

Flow isn’t just the “locked in” feeling your from 4 hours of deep work…

There’s a darker side to it.

Slot machines operate on 3-second game cycles — the fastest event frequency of any gambling activity.

This isn't random. This speed keeps your default mode network (the part of your brain responsible for self-awareness and rational thought) completely suppressed.

Players aren't trying to win.

They're using machines as emotional regulation devices — medicating anxiety, depression, boredom, or life stress through manufactured flow states.

Gamblers have been quoted saying: "I'm not gambling to win money. I just want to stay in the zone where nothing matters

How they do it… 

They give gamblers unpredictable rewards, or if you want to sound smart, you can call it Variable ratio reinforcement schedules.

These rewards come after a certain number of actions.

And this is literally the most addictive behavioral pattern on earth.

The science says it’s more powerful than cocaine or heroin because it hijacks the brain's prediction mechanisms.

The monkeys proved it. 🐒🍌

They proved the psychology on this.

A study with rhesus monkeys showed that cocaine delivered on a random-ratio schedule (a VR variant) triggered dramatically greater drug-seeking behavior than the same cocaine dose on a fixed, predictable schedule.

Monkeys worked harder and responded more quickly under VR — even when the effort/cost was high

Give people random rewards, at the right time in the customer journey and it hooks them.

So, what do you do with all this info?

I’ll get to it in a second, but before that let’s talk about…

The Surveillance State: How Casino’s Segment Lists For Retention.

They track everything.

Every minute

Every Visit.

Every Drink.

Every Dollar.

And use this information to build psychological profiles that predict breaking points before they happen.

The loyalty card isn't just tracking bets.

It's recording how fast you play, when you take bathroom breaks, what you drink, which machines you prefer, even your facial expressions through facial recognition software.

They're building 90+ customer segments with recency, frequency, monetary scores PLUS "velocity" measurements that predict how easily a person can be pushed to spend more.

Real “big brother” kind of profiling.

The sick genius: 

They predict "pain points" — moments when someone’s about to quit — and intervene with perfectly timed distractions.

About to leave after losing $500? Here’s a free meal voucher.

Getting frustrated? A "Luck Ambassador" appears with a complimentary drink.

The Behavioral they have software generates 20,000 player models per second.

Watching for micro-patterns so they can adjust marketing messages and floor experiences in real time.

Their segmentation is dialled.

Since they know their customers’ brains…

They know what message they need, at the right time…

Every time.

The Email Addiction Engine: Variable Rewards in Your Inbox

Here's where you can directly steal casino psychology for your retention marketing.

Instead of sending the same 30% off emails to everyone on the same schedule, create variable reward email sequences that mirror slot machine psychology.

Send your usual flows and add in random “gifts” or offers.

and always give them a personalized reason why…

“ You’re X kind of customer and as a thank you, you get Y just because! Stay on the look out, we’re planning more pleasant surprises like this for you in the future! “

( I actually tested this a while back on accident, and saw a 43% increase in repeat purchase rates + email opens stayed at a steady 40-50%.)

This unpredictable reward schedule triggers the same dopamine pathways that keep people glued to slot machines.

You train their behavior to want to open or they’ll miss out.

Segment your list on and test different rewards.

Some people get frequent small rewards, others get rare big ones.

These create the same psychological tension as slot machine near-misses, compelling people toward another purchase.

The 4 Step Process.

Now how the hell should you apply this?

As promised, i’m going to give you an actionable strategy for each of these insights that you can apply today.

( and if you want a deeper breakdown with step-by-step instructions + real world examples and flow templates + segments, reply to this email and I’ll send you the framework for a no-brainer price )

Step 1: Remove all purchasing distractions.

Strip your funnels and landing pages down to zero distractions.

No unnecessary links, no sidebar content, no headers that take people away from the sales message.

Create a linear psychological journey where the only choice is forward to a purchase.

Step 2 — Build Variable Reward Systems: 

Create specific offers for this to increase retention and Ltv.

Build variable reward systems into your customer experience.

Don't just give predictable points or discounts.

Create surprise bonuses, mystery gifts, early access drops, unexpected upgrades, inner circles etc.

Use flows / automations with conditional logic to deliver random rewards — maybe someone gets a 20% off code this week, maybe next week, maybe not for three weeks.

Maybe after they spend a total of $300 with your brand, you send them the random gift.

Up to you.

Step 3: Segment and Pay Attention To Customer Behavior.

You should already be psyco-analyzing your customers.

Pay attention to how customer cohorts behave based on the messaging / ads they come from. (make sure your data is as is as dialled as it can be with software like hyros / triple whale etc )

But keep this simple

Know when they abandon cart, aov, purchase frequency, traffic source, etc.

And use your brain to understand the thinking behind their decisions.

Step 4: Personalization,Personalization,Personalization

make them feel special.

make the messages feel laser targeted and like you’re reading their mind.

Make sure to use your emails, SMS , or even retargeting to install ideas and remove doubts / hesistation/ objections at scale.

Think about their thought process throughout the funnel and find ways to show them what they need to see in order to purchase the first time — and more than once.

Whether that’s identity reinforcement and branding with influencers, offers, winbacks, etc, this needs to be done.

The bottom line: Casinos have spent decades and billions of dollars perfecting the science of behavior engineering people to take actions they want them to.

Every tactic In this post is currently being used to extract trillions from consumers annually.

How you use this information is up to you.

Just like any other tool, it can be used for good or bad, all up to the person using it.

You can either ignore these psychological realities or learn from them to build more engaging, profitable customer relationships…

While putting more profit in your pockets.

But regardless, you now know exactly how the game is played. And how to use it to your advantage.

(P.S if you liked this and want to learn about psychology backed marketing and copywriting principles that you can install into your offers practically overnight, the offer i’m cooking with Malcolm is packed with templates, prompts, and trainings like this. This is the edge in a world with mass produced AI content. When you know your customers better than they know themselves, you can amplify it with AI. )