A qualitative study of participant experience with skill gaming machines in comparison to electronic gaming machines

New variants of electronic gaming machines (EGMs) are being developed that incorporate gaming elements. Policies to govern the use of skill gaming machines (SGMs) must be predicated on evidence of their impact, which is currently lacking. Focus groups (N = 21) were conducted with university students, regular EGM players, and community members who played an EGM and SGM. Participants clearly perceived that SGMs involved a skill component, although most did not have a good understanding of how SGMs work. There was evidence of greater immersion in SGMs, but this was restricted to the feature in which money was not gambled and time was limited. Participants reported a mixture of both negative and positive emotions during play on both SGMs and EGMs reflecting some consumers enjoying the gaming-elements to a greater extent. The results indicate that SGMs would likely appeal to a subset of consumers and most consumers would not have a good initial understanding of these machines.