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Dissected and Re-Assembled:
An Analysis of Gaming
Review by Edward J. Stanek, Ph.D.
Dissected and Re-Assembled is not a book for casual reading. It most likely would not be of interest to most seekers of entertainment including those that make gaming a preferred pastime. The book is an academic compendium of methodical analysis along with ample editorial opinion meant for those who want to know the ins and outs of lottery and casino games, their marketing, accounting, technical delivery, and social consequences. It could be mistaken for a Master\'s degree thesis.
The authors, Guy Simonis and Jean-Marc Lafaille, have over 60 years of relevant gaming experience between them garnered for the most part in Canada, a country where state lotteries also run the state casinos. The style of writing is as assertive as the authors themselves and the language reflects the lecture manner of Simonis who has taught uncountable seminars around the world on his favorite topic. For men whose native languages are respectively Dutch and French, the authors must have communicated well with each other to produce such a treatise in English.
The explanations regarding the various aspects of gaming are not clogged with micro-detail or presented in a pedantic fashion. The observations are, not surprisingly, those of chief executives. The authors spent many years as gaming chief executives. They also were outstanding chief executives and offer perspectives that would not be commonplace for CEOs of lesser experience. One example is their attempt to delineate a hierarchy of factors involving compulsive gambling. They list the factors attracting compulsive gamblers that are commonly found in journal articles on the subject but they also list a new one referred to as “ambience”. It is the mood created and the reinforcement provided for a gambling activity. A few Video Lottery terminals placed in a convenience store where most patrons are busy doing very different things as they come and go, would have a very different impact reinforcing gambling habits than in a casino where hundreds of people are intensely involved only with gambling for many hours at a time. There the destination is gambling. There it is reinforced by the sights and sounds of uncountable machines in dim lights, comfortable seats and free liquor. One would therefore expect lower rates of problems emerging from the same games placed in less ambient venues. This is in stark contrast to the report of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission which coined the term “convenience gambling” as the culprit. The book suggests principles which could lead one to conclude that the real culprit is “extreme gambling” or “extreme immersion” into gambling. It would have been good if this insight had been available when the Commission was doing its work.
One omission in the book is not calling attention to the Harvard School of addiction reports on compulsive behavior in general and pathological gambling in particular as potentially having organic causes linked to dopamine levels in the brain and genetic propensities for a small fraction of the population not having levels of other brain chemicals sufficient to control pleasure responses. The progress by Dr. Suk Won Kim at the University of Minnesota in medicating these conditions would also have been worth mentioning.
The book also should have had a different name. Not that the title doesn\'t reflect the metaphorical and methodical dissection and re-assembly of gaming components, but that those persons really interested in the subject would not likely distinguish the title from spam in a list of emails.
The strategic classifications of gaming products, the bird\'s-eye view of their various components, the social and political histories, along with the ins and outs of what makes them work in a straightforward avant-garde style is worth reading every page. The book should be required reading for lottery management, for lottery board members, and for students at lottery educational programs. There are some sidebar stories and parenthetical comments inserted into boxes scattered throughout the text. One of these explains, “One elderly player, when pressed by a reporter about the exact odds of winning a prize, said: \'The odds are fifty-fifty; you either win or you don\'t.’“ Do not miss these gems.
Edward J. Stanek
Edward J. Stanek has been the chief executive of the Iowa Lottery since its inception in 1985 and is the senior US lottery director. He is also inventor of Powerball, the world\'s most successful lotto game, and a founder of the Multi-State Lottery Association that manages and sells the product. He is a past president of the Multi-State Lottery Association, serves on its Board of Directors, and is chairman of its Product Development Group.
Dr. Stanek is a past president of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries and of the International Association of State Lotteries. Ed served as Senior Vice President of the World Lottery Association. He was the 1997 winner of the Peter J. O\'Connell Lottery Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Lottery Hall of Fame in 2005.
Dr. Stanek has a Ph.D. in physics from Iowa State University, is on the board of directors of the Vintage Mutual Funds, and has authored three books on American decorative arts and antiques.
Source: Lottery Insights, January 2006
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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