It does. But the one you got probably doesn't do its job.
A lot of mats are intended for DJ 'scratching'. For home hifi, the pad has two jobs: damp the platter from ringing and damp the vinyl from any resonance.
If the platter pad is doing its job, if you play a record but with the volume all the way down the turntable will be nearly silent. If the platter pad is not doing its job the stylus tracking the groove will be more audible.
The platter pad has to have the same durometer (hardness) as the vinyl for this to happen properly. The presentation will be colored in some way if its not. Currently the only pad I know of that works right is made of acrylic. But acrylic can have vastly different properties depending on how its made, so its not right to say the pad will be OK if acrylic. But the best one I've heard that's commercially available is made by Oracle.
