Actually the dopamine rush isn’t in winning. Slot machines are all flashing lights, overwhelming colors, patterns, and matching patterns designed to provide dopamine rushes purely through stimulation. The point isn’t even in the potential of winning anymore, it’s getting lost in matching patterns and pretty lights where the world disappears for as long as possible. Slot machines are designed to maximize engagement and winning actually interrupts it with rewards (slot machine addicts have actually reported being upset when the slot machine pays out, because it ruins their trance like state!)
Actually thats making a ton of assumptions about the experience of gambling on slots. The world is more complicated than some Atlantic articles on casino design, unfortunately. Go play some slots with a group of friends and realize it.
The literal casino designers have explicitly laid out all their tricks about it. The fact you can see the other symbols not involved in the lines gives a feeling of a near miss. There are several machines which incorporate eyes to invoke parasocial relationships with the players. Multiple lines beyond the three, with obscure multiplier rules, also give a sense of mastery and understanding of mechanics as if it’s not a random number thing. And the fact is that pattern matching is inherent satisfying to people, so presenting endless pattern matching game is… well.. yeah…
None of what you said refutes my point: The human experience of gambling (including slots) is much more broad than the designers influence upon it and more value can be had than from the winnings and the losings of money. It's more than just shiny lights, and us gamblers aren't zombie lemmings shoving every paycheck into the void. Go gamble with a group of people, watch the diversity of their experiences and I bet you'll see gambling is more than your reductions. There is nuance to this that you are missing.
