4 ms·

Meanwhile, > 6% of people in the US have alcohol use disorder, yet advertisements for alcohol are literally everywhere.

by mharty 5y ago

hannasanarion 5y ago
It's not a 1:1 comparison. For one thing, the regulations are different. There are few if any restrictions on online gambling advertising, whereas alcohol ads are disallowed from using imagery that might appeal to children, can only be run in places where at least 70% of viewers are adult, etc. But more importantly, the nature of the product and the intent of the creators is different. Alcohol vendors for the most part don't want people to get addicted to alcohol, and most of their revenue doesn't come from addicts (90% of American adults drink at least socially). Gambling, and gambling advertisements, are deliberately designed to hook people to it as an addiction. Only 25% of Americans regularly gamble, and just 2% of gamblers produce 50% of industry revenue.
- slap_shot 5y ago
  > Gambling, and gambling advertisements, are deliberately designed to hook people to it as an addiction. > Only 25% of Americans regularly gamble > and just 2% of gamblers produce 50% of industry revenue. Very interesting. Do you have sources for these?
  - hannasanarion 5y ago
    Google exists, bro. > Gambling, and gambling advertisements, are deliberately designed to hook people to it as an addiction. What do you think all the $500-1000 "free cash starts" that the NFL is constantly advertising are supposed to do? There's a reason that free loosies were banned in the Tobacco Control Act of 96. For-profit companies don't give stuff away for free unless they think they'll get way more than that back from a portion of freebie recipients. > Only 25% of Americans regularly gamble https://www.statista.com/topics/1368/gambling/#dossierKeyfigures https://www.statista.com/topics/1368/gambling/#dossierKeyfig... > and just 2% of gamblers produce 50% of industry revenue. https://www.promisesbehavioralhealth.com/addiction-recovery-blog/casinos-thrive-on-backs-of-addicts/ https://www.promisesbehavioralhealth.com/addiction-recovery-...
- bglazer 5y ago
  While the statistics for alcohol consumption may not be as drastic as gambling, a large percentage (>20%) of alcohol revenue comes from heavy drinking. Here's a study from the UK. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30136436/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30136436/ Also, what makes you think alcohol vendors don't want addicts? My impression is that while they don't actively promote alcoholism, they mostly don't care.
mdoms 5y ago
Two things can be bad at the same time. This is an article about gambling, not alcohol.
chrisco255 5y ago
We definitely already ran the experiment where we banned alcohol altogether, it didn't work out too well.

Meanwhile, > 6% of people in the US have alcohol use disorder, yet advertisements for alcohol are literally everywhere.

by mharty 5y ago

Meanwhile, > 6% of people in the US have alcohol use disorder, yet advertisements for alcohol are literally everywhere.

It's not a 1:1 comparison. For one thing, the regulations are different. There are few if any restrictions on online gambling advertising, whereas alcohol ads are disallowed from using imagery that might appeal to children, can only be run in places where at least 70% of viewers are adult, etc. But more importantly, the nature of the product and the intent of the creators is different. Alcohol vendors for the most part don't want people to get addicted to alcohol, and most of their revenue doesn't come from addicts (90% of American adults drink at least socially). Gambling, and gambling advertisements, are deliberately designed to hook people to it as an addiction. Only 25% of Americans regularly gamble, and just 2% of gamblers produce 50% of industry revenue.

slap_shot 5y ago
> Gambling, and gambling advertisements, are deliberately designed to hook people to it as an addiction. > Only 25% of Americans regularly gamble > and just 2% of gamblers produce 50% of industry revenue. Very interesting. Do you have sources for these?
- hannasanarion 5y ago
  Google exists, bro. > Gambling, and gambling advertisements, are deliberately designed to hook people to it as an addiction. What do you think all the $500-1000 "free cash starts" that the NFL is constantly advertising are supposed to do? There's a reason that free loosies were banned in the Tobacco Control Act of 96. For-profit companies don't give stuff away for free unless they think they'll get way more than that back from a portion of freebie recipients. > Only 25% of Americans regularly gamble https://www.statista.com/topics/1368/gambling/#dossierKeyfigures https://www.statista.com/topics/1368/gambling/#dossierKeyfig... > and just 2% of gamblers produce 50% of industry revenue. https://www.promisesbehavioralhealth.com/addiction-recovery-blog/casinos-thrive-on-backs-of-addicts/ https://www.promisesbehavioralhealth.com/addiction-recovery-...
bglazer 5y ago
While the statistics for alcohol consumption may not be as drastic as gambling, a large percentage (>20%) of alcohol revenue comes from heavy drinking. Here's a study from the UK. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30136436/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30136436/ Also, what makes you think alcohol vendors don't want addicts? My impression is that while they don't actively promote alcoholism, they mostly don't care.

mdoms 5y ago

Two things can be bad at the same time. This is an article about gambling, not alcohol.

chrisco255 5y ago

We definitely already ran the experiment where we banned alcohol altogether, it didn't work out too well.