4 ms·
> immoral that states can advertise their lotteries full-stop. State lotteries are a compromise: They inhibit underground lotteries. The goal of the state lott
by diydsp 3y ago
> immoral that states can advertise their lotteries full-stop.
State lotteries are a compromise: They inhibit underground lotteries. The goal of the state lotteries is to divert people away from the danger of the underground while keeping itself from being overly attractive.
- edgyquant 3y agoWhy do they need to be state controlled for this? This is the same argument for casinos but states don’t run those.
- Err_Eek 3y ago> This is the same argument for casinos but states don’t run those. In most (or at least a lot of) countries states regulate casinos _so much_ than it becomes almost a technicality that casinos are privately owned. Also with lotteries you have the scale factor -- in order to have an attractive lottery, you need a ton of ticket buyers, so if you have a national level lottery you can definitely make neighborhood lotteries way less appealing. Blackjack and poker tables don't scale the same way.
- whiterknight 3y agoWe have seen how well this argument holds up with sports betting, which went from something people do in Vegas on vacation to a significant portion of 20-30 year old males pay checks. Accessibility and marketing matters.
- iamthirsty 3y agoI don't know where you grew up, but in almost every college guy's social network (usually already consisting of sports guys) we all knew a guy and didn't just bet in Vegas on vacation. It has always been a significant part of 20-30 yo male paychecks, now it's just acceptable to advertise on ESPN.
- noolean 3y agoIs there data on this? As someone who was a 20-30 year old male for 10 years, it’s not something I would have ever considered, the effort, risk, and return doesn’t seem worth it vs. just buying VTI or SCHB and then letting them sit? Are the majority of 20s males really gambling a significant percentage of post-tax on sports? Has this displaced social fantasy football type games or the basketball brackets?
- orwin 3y agoRecently it took off (and I do mean recently: post covid). You have ex-crypto/dropship bros who turned to sport betting to make 'millions'. basically they're rolled by the apps for half their bets, their winnings are the payment, and their balance is always positive since their EV is 1.60 (when normal customers EV is .80). That, plus advertising on college sports (including 'free bets'), it is really a big thing, even for 30yo+ people to be fair.
- mjhay 3y agoThere's always been gambling, but there's a lot more of it now. Gross revenue has more than doubled since 2020. I think it's safe to say gambling's new-found ubiquity is a big part. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1332999/gross-gaming-revenue-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1332999/gross-gaming-rev...
- iamthirsty 3y agoAgain, this is referring to legal gambling, whilst I was referring to illegal sports betting, which we would have basically no good accurate way to devise the total number pre- or post- legalization.
- whiterknight 3y agoFor your argument to be true mass marketing must have zero effect on participation.
- helpfulclippy 3y agoThe goal of the state lottery is to generate additional revenue by using its lawmaking power to protect and exploit a monopoly on gambling.
- SoftTalker 3y agoUm, no the goal of state lotteries is money for the state to spend on things that voters would not want to pay taxes for. Most of the lotteries were started with the promise that they would "fund education" but in reality dollars are fungible. To the extent that they even try to maintain the facade, that's all that it is.
- robertlagrant 3y ago> but in reality dollars are fungible This doesn't matter. It's that they're given for a separate service, vs compulsory extraction. That's the reality.
- yayitswei 3y agoSo why advertise at all if the goal is to have fewer users?