August 13, 2021
Friday
I had a great discussion on BBC’s Business Daily radio
programme. Their subject was about a sense of time and of timelessness in
various aspects of life. I explained how a serious casino player is typically
immersed in an escapist fantasy while gambling, and they can quickly turn it
off if they become aware of the real time in the world around them.
Over the years, I have occasionally come across an article
about how the Nevada casinos reinforced their players’ sense of timelessness,
by eliminating all the clocks and by covering up their exterior windows and
doors to keep the rising sunlight from making their players aware of the real
time in the outside world. These articles inevitably present the casino
operators’ actions as Machiavellian manipulation intended to take advantage of
their players. The truth is that about three-quarters of a century ago, the
serious players demanded the casino operators remove the clocks and cover up
the rising sunlight, if they wanted to keep them coming back to gamble at their
casino.
I witnessed the players’ negative reaction to rising
sunlight many times during my career. I frequently stood and observed player
behavioral patterns in the casinos I managed, my competitors’ casinos, the
other casinos in Las Vegas, and the many casinos in cities around the world to
whom I consulted. As I stood in the background watching the goings on in these
casinos, it always amazed me that when the players could see the rising sunlight
through the glass doors or windows, it took just a few minutes for the majority
of players to cash out and leave the
casino.
It is clear all these late-night players did not quit
playing at the same time to go to work, or from simultaneous tiredness, because
I never saw a mass exodus like this in any casino that had the sunlight blocked
out. I have occasionally seen mass exoduses in the evening, when a hot live
band in the lounge ended its performance. In these cases, all the players each
had some reason to leave, but all held back from taking off as long as music
they were loving was flowing through the casino.