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Slots is a most timely statement about the current “casino” mentality that is a worldwide phenomenon. In North America alone, the slot machine business now exceeds $365 billion. David Forrest, a brilliant Columbia-trained psychoanalyst of diverse interests and insatiable curiosity, delves into the complex motivations of the over 40 million U.S. slot players. The numbers dwarf those of individuals interested in movies, and even pornography. Gambling may be the best performing U.S. industry today. (It is important to also acknowledge the “casino” mentality on Wall Street, as noted in Vicky Ward's entertaining 2010 book The Devil's Casino: Friendship, Betrayal, and the High Stakes Games Played Inside Lehman Brothers.)
Forrest covers the origins and the invention of slot machines by Charles Fey in 1894 and the prototypical three-reel bell machine in 1898 in the United States. Inge Telnaes later patented the virtual stops, adding another dimension and acquiring a notable place in books as among the “Ten Most Influential People” in the evolution of slots. Of course gambling with an 11-side die goes back eons in China, and gambling remains a prominent part of that culture as well as throughout the Asian world and in the West.
In the early chapters, there is the connection proposed as “religious awe” in the temples of gaming. The repeated ritualized mantra of the melodically spinning reel is akin to the Tibetan prayer wheel being spun and spun again. Many players appear entranced by the experience itself. In a Skinnerian sense, where the actions do not affect the