How casinos carpetbag their punters

Swedish photographer Chris Maluszynski was surprised by the garishness of the carpets in the casinos of Las Vegas. Until, that is, he realised that they had a purpose – to stop the punters feeling sleepy because sleepy tourists don’t spend money. If your eyes stray to the floor and see one of these monstrosities, you are likely to be jolted awake again.

A collection of his photographs of these extraordinary carpets, quite unlike anything you will find anywhere else, is on The Daily Telegraph website. If you’re feeling sleepy at your keyboard, perhaps flipping through them will work the same trick. This ploy is spoofed in the current family film Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Updating the Greek myths, Percy and his colleagues are detained in a casino by being persuaded to eat lotus flowers. They eventually emerge to discover that days, not hours, have passed.

Retailers use a variety of psychological tricks on their customers too, of course. You’ll find few windows in department stores or shopping centres, though there are usually plenty of mirrors, which serve to slow shoppers down. In fact shopping centres are specifically designed, not for your comfort and convenience, but to confuse and baffle you. They aim to induce a condition known as the “Gruen transfer”, named after the man who designed the first shopping mall in 1856.

The Gruen transfer is the moment when customers suffer “scripted disorientation”. They slow from a confident stride to a baffled dawdle, eyes glazing over as they forget what they came for and realise there are SO MANY THINGS they could be spending their money on. So don’t feel daft next time you lose your bearings in a shopping mall. The bally places are designed to keep you there as long as possible. At least they don’t have Vegas-style garish carpets. Yet.