The current research focuses on how the use of “skeuomorphs” in digital design
interacts with an illusion of control to influence gambling behavior.
Skeuomorphism is a design concept in which an aspect of a modern item is made to
represent its outdated counterpart, even if this representation serves no functional
purpose, such as hands “dealing” cards or horses “racing” on the screen of a digital
machine. It is proposed that the inclusion of these non-essential links to physical
objects in digital gambling games interacts with a player's illusion of control over
the outcome to influence behavior. Shown across a pretest and three experiments,
the inclusion of skeuomorphic elements in the design of gambling games, compared
to a minimalistic “flat” design, increases amount gambled. Additionally,
skeuomorphism and manipulated illusion of control interact to further increase the
amount gambled. The manuscript concludes with a discussion on the practical,
theoretical, and policy implications of this research.