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Legalizing mobile gambling (sports is a common form of this) is a terrible idea. I used to be heavily in favor of legalized sports gambling; like the article sa
by lumb63 4y ago
Legalizing mobile gambling (sports is a common form of this) is a terrible idea. I used to be heavily in favor of legalized sports gambling; like the article says, I’m not harming anyone, and it’s my choice.
Then one of my close friends with a gambling problem lost a substantial chunk of his life savings on gambling on his phone. He didn’t even have to leave his house to do it. After that, I had to reconsider my position.
While I disapprove of governments babysitting their constituents rather than treating them as independent and responsible adults, I think addictive habits are a worthwhile exception. A person who is addicted to gambling is not in their right mind or acting rationally. It is the same as any other psychoactive drug or habit. Nobody should have their life outcome determined by something that hijacks their biology for exploitative purposes (and I do see it as exploitative inherently; the business model of gambling is such that on average the user must lose).
- bluSCALE4 4y agoI hate all forms of gambling outside of a casino. At least at a casino, it's isolated but when it's on your phone or in your neighborhood, it's just gross. At first I wanted to boycott any establishment that allowed machines in their businesses but it seems its too lucrative a draw as I see them everywhere in cities where they're allowed.
- api 4y agoI used to be very much the same and have started to reconsider too. I think I’m shocked at just how prevalent it becomes when it’s legal and advertising is permitted. It’s like gambling becomes a double digit percentage of the economy. In the future I think the ability to resist addiction is going to become a massive factor affecting life outcome, possibly even larger than intelligence or education or appearance.
- lumb63 4y agoSports gambling has just been legalized in my state and I’ve been getting bombarded by advertisements non-stop over the last few weeks. I joke now that every commercial is a sports gambling commercial. And the rub is, as the article says, the “please gamble responsibly” in the fine print. Those companies want us to gamble as responsibly as is required to keep them from being banned and not a hair more.
- matthewdgreen 4y agoHave seen this destroy families as well. Once people use up their own funds they will absolutely find ways to extract from others, including elderly parents. It can be ruinous.
- 0xy 4y agoAlcohol is an addictive habit and is behind over 50% of domestic violence but prohibitionist takes like yours never seem to recommend bans on the actual harmful substances in society like alcohol. Why is that? Voluntary gambling should be banned, but alcohol and Big Macs are fine despite the terrible societal consequences? It's why I can't take arguments for prohibition seriously, it's always reactionary and ignores the major elephants in the room. 140,000 dead every year from alcohol. 280,000 from obesity. Gambling is less than 20,000.
- jstarfish 4y agoWe have to draw the line somewhere. Extracting everything possible from a host without killing it is literal parasitism. Whatever their kill count, guns, alcohol and cheeseburgers at least have some other useful purpose. Gambling's "fun" is an exploitative artificial construct only realized under finite conditions. A cheeseburger provides calories whether or not you're hungry. How much "fun" is gambling when you're broke?