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Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?

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Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?

#21

Post by ademup »

hapless wrote: post #8
jonnycomputer wrote: post #5

as unethical as working for tobacco companies.

Tobacco industry is made up of wholly legal and aboveboard business enterprises with many happy users. They have a long history of malicious behavior, but it is not, on the face of it, wrong to take such a job. But I still might avoid it, myself. Once bitten, twice shy. You spend fifty years conspiring to conceal damages to your own customers and maybe I prefer not to work for you even after you stop doing it

Just because an endeavor is legal, does not make it ethical. I agree with parent: working for a casino is about as unethical as working for a tobacco company. Your work will unquestionably lead to harm in the lives of others.

Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?

#22

Post by GFischer »

hapless wrote: post #7

It's illegal. Working for people who break the law for money is generally considered to be unethical. Even if you, personally, feel OK about it, ask yourself what would happen if a prospective (future) employer found out about your activities.

OP clarified that it's legal where he lives.

I believe in most countries online gambling is not illegal per se, but definitely regulated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_gambling#Legal_status

Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?

#25

Post by SirLJ »

devscreen wrote: post #6
SirLJ wrote: post #4

What about Facebook, it is also designed to be addictive, so you can spend as much time on it as possible to be shown ads?

Hardly a fair comparison. You will not blow your (and potentially your family's) savings by browsing facebook and seeing being shown ads.

Not to mention all scamming and casino ads that are running on Facebook and Google for that matter...

Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?

#26

Post by ivanche »

hapless wrote: post #7

It's illegal. Working for people who break the law for money is generally considered to be unethical. Even if you, personally, feel OK about it, ask yourself what would happen if a prospective (future) employer found out about your activities.

Hmm, this is very debatable. I know about a dozen or so people who developed software for kind-of-online-casinos (well known UK bookies who have online games on their sites and I'd say they definitely operate legally) for years. It actually had been a full-time job for all of them. None of them had any problems finding their next job(s); however also none of them is US-based. As usual, YMMV.

Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?

#27

Post by dtft »

Apreche wrote: post #12

Yes. A casino exists only to take advantage of vulnerable individuals and drain them of their money. It is an immoral business. Therefore, working to help a casino is also immoral.

Devils advocate argument:

I work at an e-commerce company that is designed and incentivized to sell as much product as possible. Are we taking advantage of "shopping addicts"? Where is the line drawn between capitalism and morality?

Sidenote: Casinos also exist to provide entertainment value. I don't mind spending $20 on blackjack just to play with my friends and talk with new people. Just because there is a subset of individuals that can't handle that entertainment responsibly doesn't mean that the business itself is immoral.

Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?

#28

Post by runeb »

pikiejoe wrote: post #10

I know friends that work in online gambling, they say they are more ashamed of people who work in banking, hft, defense (offense?) contractors, Facebook or Google. Why? Because all the above have tangible negative effects on society. We need an engineering code of conduct - too many tech folk happy to take a dollar in return for building stuff that makes the world a worse place.

Sounds like whataboutism. Pointing at the dirty neighbors does not clean your own house.

Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?

#29

Post by princekolt »

dtft wrote: post #27
Apreche wrote: post #12

Yes. A casino exists only to take advantage of vulnerable individuals and drain them of their money. It is an immoral business. Therefore, working to help a casino is also immoral.

Devils advocate argument: I work at an e-commerce company that is designed and incentivized to sell as much product as possible. Are we taking advantage of "shopping addicts"? Where is the line drawn between capitalism and morality? Sidenote: Casinos also exist to provide entertainment value. I don't mind spending $20 on blackjack just to play with my friends and talk with new people. Just because there is a subset o…

> I work at an e-commerce company that is designed and incentivized to sell as much product as possible.

Yes. Why wouldn't it be? That's why regulations regarding advertisement and fair pricing were created, even though they're not very effective in the digital world. Still, it could be a lot worse.

Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?

#30

Post by conanbatt »

ademup wrote: post #21
hapless wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tobacco industry is made up of wholly legal and aboveboard business enterprises with many happy users. They have a long history of malicious behavior, but it is not, on the face of it, wrong to take such a job. But I still might avoid it, myself. Once bitten, twice shy. You spend fifty years conspiring to conceal damages to your own customers and maybe I prefer not to work for you even after you stop doing it

Just because an endeavor is legal, does not make it ethical. I agree with parent: working for a casino is about as unethical as working for a tobacco company. Your work will unquestionably lead to harm in the lives of others.

This kind of thinking paradoxically makes investing in those ventures profitable. The "vice" has extra returns because there is less investor competition.
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