# Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas by Natasha Dow Schüll

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas by Natasha Dow Schüll and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as an eye-opening account of how technology and gambling machines are designed to influence behavior.

## Why people recommend it

- Eye-opening on technology influencing behavior (1 comments): "Both are incredibly eye-opening in their treatment of technology and how it is designed to influence behavior." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47542456))
- Covers dark patterns in gambling games (2 comments): "There’s a good book that discusses dark patterns in Gambling games" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45948763)) "there is a book. addiction by design, exactly about this." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47551353))
- Argues addiction blame falls on machines (1 comments): "claims that gambling addiction was a concept pushed by the casinos, to put the blame onto individuals, rather than the machine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49356788))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cuckoo-s-egg.md): 40 recommend
- [Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amusing-ourselves-to-death.md): 36 recommend
- [The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/anxious-generation.md): 24 recommend
- [Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bullshit-jobs.md): 20 recommend
- [Enshittification by Cory Doctorow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enshittification.md): 19 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Addiction+by+Design%3A+Machine+Gambling+in+Las+Vegas+by+Natasha+Dow+Sch%C3%BCll&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas by Natasha Dow Schüll", https://hackerapproved.com/p/addiction/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).