It really depends on your own position on Gambling. I'm of the mind that the same kind of person who throws money away at a Casino would have thrown it away somewhere else. I see nothing wrong with selling a person a service they want.
Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?
41–50 of 88 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?
#42Earlier 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.
Yes, but that applies to just about every programming job too. Is programming unethical? I mean your are automating jobs away. It certainly harms lives.
Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?
#43Why limit to online casinos? WMS Gaming creates tons of slot and video lottery terminals, wouldn't it be just as unethical to work there than on online casinos?
Exactly. Online casinos are just the tip of the iceberg here. Unbelievably large sums of money and grief are lost and created respectively in real world lotteries and casinos which nowadays are almost entirely computerized - thus made up by developers working in tech companies.
Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?
#44I 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.
>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
Too bad that it is a very subjective idea. What your friends who work in online gambling think has a negative effect on society (and thus could be said to make the world a worse place) does not seem that way to me. I see HFT as market makers and bankers as something necessary to keep capital flowing. Of course, there are still industries that I feel cross the line when it comes to ethics as well, but I'm sure there are many who disagree with my opinion as well.
Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?
#45It depends on what the profits are used for.
Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?
#46I 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.
Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?
#47Is working for McDonalds unethical? Well yes, because people get obese and live shorter lives. Is working for Tobacco companies unethical? Well yes, because people die from cancer which was caused from smoking for example. Is working for the bank unethical? Well yes, because most banks make people buy bonds that have a high profit for the banks but lower for the customers. Is working for your local grocery store unet…
Hm. Sounds like temporizing. Clearly, working to produce a deliberately addictive product that is corrosive to health and happiness, is bad. If the product has any redeeming feature, and a reasonable legitimate market, isn't that different in more than a qualitative way?
If I worked at McD's National, and were juggling fat/salt/sugar to produce the most addictive fries, then I'd call that unethical. But to sell beef burgers to folks in a hurry for lunch, no.
Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?
#48Hard to answer.
Actually I'd really hear answers about a similar question: Is working on p2w games unethical?
I was wondering about that in connection with the whole Battlefront 2 fiasco. EA got a lot of flak but I remember when Apple announced the in-app purchase for free apps back in 2009. Feels like it was only yesterday but that was when a lot of things clearly changed.
https://techcrunch.com/2009/10/15/apple-announces-in-app-pur...
Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?
#49Why limit to online casinos? WMS Gaming creates tons of slot and video lottery terminals, wouldn't it be just as unethical to work there than on online casinos?
Exactly. Online casinos are just the tip of the iceberg here. Unbelievably large sums of money and grief are lost and created respectively in real world lotteries and casinos which nowadays are almost entirely computerized - thus made up by developers working in tech companies.
I do think that online casinos may get a worse reputation when it comes to those in the US because online gambling is illegal so these companies that offer it are set up outside of the US jurisdiction. Who knows what they will pay out or if they ever do pay out. Casinos in the US are bound by the governing body of the state they are located in to have certain payouts when it comes to machines. Online gambling doesn't necessarily have that.
Re: Ask HN: Is working on online casinos unethical?
#50I 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.
> We need an engineering code of conduct
That exists [1]. The problem is, as gk1 points out, it doesn't have much teeth without licensure.