And for every dangled carrot that a player eventually grasps, the house has already ensured they’ve earned it back somewhere else. It would be bad business for casinos to bankrupt players on a single hand or pull of a lever, intentionally.

From the moment you enter a casino, a thousand strategic choices-from the sounds of slot machines designed to disguise losses as wins to the perfumed air, which, for one Vegas casino, increased slot machine revenue by 45%-have been made to keep you playing, and to keep you just hopeful enough to keep paying.