Register

Naomi Ellsworth

Home / Blog / Naomi Ellsworth
Naomi Ellsworth — writer on player psychology
Naomi Ellsworth
Writer on player psychology

Naomi Ellsworth writes about the psychology of play: why a near-miss feels like progress, why an interface has no clock, and why losing track of time costs money. She works from published research and says plainly where the research stops.

3
Articles published
Published research only
Sources used
None
Operator affiliations

Areas of Expertise

The near-miss effect Losses presented as wins The machine zone and flow Cognitive bias in gambling Session length and time cues Responsible play tools Reinforcement schedules Reading a claim critically

About Naomi Ellsworth

Naomi Ellsworth writes about the behavioural side of gambling: what the published literature establishes, and what it is routinely claimed to establish.

Her guides on this site cover the near-miss effect, losses dressed as wins, and the state that research on machine gambling calls the machine zone rather than flow. Each is built from findings that exist in the open literature and can be looked up.

She does not have access to player data, operator records or session logs, and the guides say so rather than working around it. Where a claim would require that access, it is labelled unverifiable instead of asserted.

She holds no clinical qualification and offers no clinical advice. Where a reader's situation calls for it, the guides point to self-exclusion tools and to organisations that provide support.

The practical part of her writing is deliberately narrow: an external timer, account-level limits set before a session, and two figures per month — deposited and withdrawn. Nothing on this site claims a mental technique improves results.

She writes for this site independently and is not employed by any casino operator.

Background & Credentials

  • Writes from published, citable behavioural research
  • States the limits of each finding rather than extending it
  • No access to player or operator data — and no claims that would require it
“The reward response is real. The prediction is not — and almost every claim in this subject lives in the gap between the two.” — Naomi Ellsworth

Articles by Naomi Ellsworth

3 Articles
Casino Myths, Checked One by One
March 2, 2026

Casino Myths, Checked One by One

Some of what circulates about casinos is documented and some is invented, and the two are usually told with equal confidence. Here is which is which, and how to tell them apart yourself.

Explore more

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Naomi write about?
The psychology guides on this site: the near-miss effect, losses dressed as wins, absorbed play, and how folklore about casinos survives being disproved.

Do her guides help a player win more?
No. Nothing described in them changes the house edge, and the guides say so. What they address is how much gets staked and for how long, which is the part a player controls.

Is she a psychologist or a clinician?
No. She writes about published research and does not hold a clinical qualification. The guides point to professional support rather than substituting for it.

Does she work for the operator?
No. She writes for this site independently and is not employed by any casino. This site is an affiliate publisher, not an operator, and has no player data of any kind.

How are her guides kept current?
They are revised when the underlying research or the industry practice they describe changes, not on a fixed schedule.

Get Bonus