3 ms·

They are called VIPs, not whales, in sports-betting world I worked with it for a while and if I was in a position to leave that industry I would have done it s

They are called VIPs, not whales, in sports-betting world I worked with it for a while and if I was in a position to leave that industry I would have done it sooner. But I do have to say that at least the sports betting companies I worked on they did try their hardest to follow the law as much as possible. One thing I have to say is that it is abhorrent that betting websites are allowed to advertise at all. It should be threated the same as smoking ads regulations.

alexashka 3y ago
Wait until you realize advertising should not be allowed.
- allenrb 3y ago
  I can’t see how this deserves to be downvoted. As far as I’m concerned, anything other than “just the facts, ma’am” advertising is about preying on human weakness. It’s legal, but is it right?
  - jjeaff 3y ago
    I don't think it is correct to say all advertising is preying on human weakness. Some people create good and beneficial products. advertising is how you get the word out about your product.
    - alexashka 3y ago
      Just have a website/app/whatever that displays a database of products and information about each, comparisons, etc. There is no excuse for invading people's lives with unasked for media of any kind. People who want to know about new products can go to places where such information is available and seek it out.
    - weaksauce 3y ago
      > Some people create good and beneficial products. and those would shine with a "just the facts ma'am" approach.
      - jjeaff 3y ago
        If you put a commercial on TV with "just the facts" it's still an ad.
        tekknik 3y ago
        if you make a useful product it will be found regardless
        kortilla 3y ago
        That doesn’t work outside of mass market products.
        Aerbil313 3y ago
        Not in the age of internet. It does work. People asking in reddit and internet forums (word-of-mouth) is what it is. If there is a need, humankind will get around to satisfy it. Even if it doesn't work enough to satisfy the need, someone will scrape the web to create a database of every product being sold and put an LLM with embedding search in front of it to make it work. Probably Google. Ah, but turns out there is money to be made with advertising. As a counterpoint, %99 of the ads I see are companies I already know about. I'm seeing the ads of same services of the same set of companies every year since I got a smartphone. Ads are just manipulation through creating familiarity through repetition.
        tekknik 3y ago
        Sure it does, people ask others all the time about a solution to a very specific problem.
    - Terr_ 3y ago
      The real problem is where to draw the line, which is partly cultural. There's a similar concept in legal contracts, with "unconscionable" terms.
- none_to_remain 3y ago
  If you really believed in that idea you wouldn't go on news.ycombinator.com to advertise it
gherkinnn 3y ago
> they did try their hardest to follow the law as much as possible Well that absolves them now, doesn't it?
- chii 3y ago
  It does doesn't it? If someone chooses to gamble, it's at least better to do so with regulated companies that have to follow the law. The alternative is to gamble illegally, where you might not even get paid odds or payouts. The world where the gambler stops gambling doesn't exist.
  - fsckboy 3y ago
    in the hood, so to speak, illegal gambling pays better than legal gambling.
  - edub 3y ago
    The article says that you win points but there is no way to win money back or get payouts. What is legal is not the same thing as what is moral (and vice versa). No illegal alternative necessary, the players of this app get zero odds and payouts. gherkinnn is saying that just because it is legal does not mean that the people behind the company are free of responsibility for the damage their app creates.
  - armada651 3y ago
    > The world where the gambler stops gambling doesn't exist. Casually ignoring that a large amount of gambling addicts have stopped gambling. Also, just because people are addicted and it's not illegal doesn't make it morally right. You're still financially benefitting from their addiction. These online casinos aren't simply complicit in their gambling addiction they are actively fueling it trying to optimize the addictiveness of their platform.

alexashka 3y ago

Wait until you realize advertising should not be allowed.

allenrb 3y ago
I can’t see how this deserves to be downvoted. As far as I’m concerned, anything other than “just the facts, ma’am” advertising is about preying on human weakness. It’s legal, but is it right?
- jjeaff 3y ago
  I don't think it is correct to say all advertising is preying on human weakness. Some people create good and beneficial products. advertising is how you get the word out about your product.
  - alexashka 3y ago
    Just have a website/app/whatever that displays a database of products and information about each, comparisons, etc. There is no excuse for invading people's lives with unasked for media of any kind. People who want to know about new products can go to places where such information is available and seek it out.
  - weaksauce 3y ago
    > Some people create good and beneficial products. and those would shine with a "just the facts ma'am" approach.
    - jjeaff 3y ago
      If you put a commercial on TV with "just the facts" it's still an ad.
      - tekknik 3y ago
        if you make a useful product it will be found regardless
        kortilla 3y ago
        That doesn’t work outside of mass market products.
        Aerbil313 3y ago
        Not in the age of internet. It does work. People asking in reddit and internet forums (word-of-mouth) is what it is. If there is a need, humankind will get around to satisfy it. Even if it doesn't work enough to satisfy the need, someone will scrape the web to create a database of every product being sold and put an LLM with embedding search in front of it to make it work. Probably Google. Ah, but turns out there is money to be made with advertising. As a counterpoint, %99 of the ads I see are companies I already know about. I'm seeing the ads of same services of the same set of companies every year since I got a smartphone. Ads are just manipulation through creating familiarity through repetition.
        tekknik 3y ago
        Sure it does, people ask others all the time about a solution to a very specific problem.
  - Terr_ 3y ago
    The real problem is where to draw the line, which is partly cultural. There's a similar concept in legal contracts, with "unconscionable" terms.
none_to_remain 3y ago
If you really believed in that idea you wouldn't go on news.ycombinator.com to advertise it

gherkinnn 3y ago

> they did try their hardest to follow the law as much as possible Well that absolves them now, doesn't it?

chii 3y ago
It does doesn't it? If someone chooses to gamble, it's at least better to do so with regulated companies that have to follow the law. The alternative is to gamble illegally, where you might not even get paid odds or payouts. The world where the gambler stops gambling doesn't exist.
- fsckboy 3y ago
  in the hood, so to speak, illegal gambling pays better than legal gambling.
- edub 3y ago
  The article says that you win points but there is no way to win money back or get payouts. What is legal is not the same thing as what is moral (and vice versa). No illegal alternative necessary, the players of this app get zero odds and payouts. gherkinnn is saying that just because it is legal does not mean that the people behind the company are free of responsibility for the damage their app creates.
- armada651 3y ago
  > The world where the gambler stops gambling doesn't exist. Casually ignoring that a large amount of gambling addicts have stopped gambling. Also, just because people are addicted and it's not illegal doesn't make it morally right. You're still financially benefitting from their addiction. These online casinos aren't simply complicit in their gambling addiction they are actively fueling it trying to optimize the addictiveness of their platform.