Meanwhile, > 6% of people in the US have alcohol use disorder, yet advertisements for alcohol are literally everywhere.
The rising human cost of sports betting
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Re: The rising human cost of sports betting
#12What is the rising human cost? The only real data they presented was that sports betting is now legal in 30 states when it used to only be legal in Nevada. Gambling and other addictions have always had a societal cost.
Re: The rising human cost of sports betting
#13Promotion of gambling should be likened to promotion of cigarettes. It should be illegal to advertise gambling, but I don't think it should be outlawed to gamble. People should be able to choose how they live their lives, but we should do all that we can to prevent mass manipulation through adverts in industries that are known to be harmful. I also think that alcohol and e-cig advertising should be outlawed as well.
This has been my position for a while on so called "vices". Prohibition is ineffective and often does more harm than good, but allowing companies to advertise these products to young people and those who are susceptible to abuse is a net negative for society.
Worst of all are government run lotteries. A state run lottery may be preferable to one run by organized crime, but running millions of dollars worth of ads with product tie-ins (Harley Davidson, car companies, cruises, etc.) all while claiming to "support education" is outrageous.
Re: The rising human cost of sports betting
#14What an oddly written article. So Delany, the flagship character in the narrative, bet a bit of money and then his wife caught him so he stopped. Is he the best example they could have found? Sports betting and gambling in general is incredibly destructive and unbelievably difficult to kick for full-on addicts. Gambling addiction is no joke. For some far more compelling journalism on the terrible consequences of gamb…
I think the human interest story is sadder than you realize. In addition to being a gambling addict, Delany is also a Jets fan.
Re: The rising human cost of sports betting
#15What an oddly written article. So Delany, the flagship character in the narrative, bet a bit of money and then his wife caught him so he stopped. Is he the best example they could have found? Sports betting and gambling in general is incredibly destructive and unbelievably difficult to kick for full-on addicts. Gambling addiction is no joke. For some far more compelling journalism on the terrible consequences of gamb…
They probably used him as an example because he runs a podcast on gambling addiction. It says he was gambling away his 401k, which sounds pretty serious. They may have also used him as an example to make it easier for gamblers who come across the article to find help.
Re: The rising human cost of sports betting
#16I’m glad to see a report on this - I hate to see the NFL actively promoting gambling with their biggest stars lining up for the commercials. I’m sure in their eyes it will “promote” the game but it will ruin the lives of many. My grandfather had a gambling problem and was an easy mark in his latter years - something like this would have been a dark pit of cyclical losses and broken relationships
I agree but also wish that a similar sentiment was applied to modern investment strategies.
What do you mean by modern? My understanding is that the rise of index funds has been the biggest trend in this space over the past 20-30 years. Riskier bets like individual stock picking, or "experts" that con others with dubious ways of predicting the future, have been around forever.
Re: The rising human cost of sports betting
#17No post body was provided.
Re: The rising human cost of sports betting
#18I think it's just a matter of time before we see a Super Bowl or World Series thrown due to the legalization of Sport betting...
We have been here before and seen all of this before and it's really hard to believe history won't repeat itself.
It's stupid all the way down.
Re: The rising human cost of sports betting
#19Promotion of gambling should be likened to promotion of cigarettes. It should be illegal to advertise gambling, but I don't think it should be outlawed to gamble. People should be able to choose how they live their lives, but we should do all that we can to prevent mass manipulation through adverts in industries that are known to be harmful. I also think that alcohol and e-cig advertising should be outlawed as well.
I spent some time in Montana and was shocked to see how many businesses have "casinos" attached to them. I never got to look inside but I think these are basically a small room with a few slot machines. They were everywhere. For example, I ate at a chinese restaurant and there was a side room advertising poker and keno.
I came away feeling like there was a web that would catch every single person in the state who had a predilection for gambling addiction.
The weirdest sign I saw was attached to a gas station casino: "Weekly grand prize jackpot: $50." That was hard to parse coming from tech salaries that a $50 grand prize would motivate anyone.
Re: The rising human cost of sports betting
#20History will I believe judge the Roberts court harshly for all the negative effects and misery it has caused in the 2010s. The gutting of campaign finance reform means politicians are effectively owned by PACs and corporations now. Gutting the Civil Rights Act because "we don't need Federal preclearance anymore" (followed quickly by 20+ states quickly enacting the kinds of voting restrictions the Civil Rights Act was intended to curb). And of course the accessibility of gambling in the form of sports betting.
It should be clear that gambling is really bad for some people. Gambling addicts have the highest rate of suicide of any addicts [1].
Most people either don't gamble or can gamble responsibly. What kept this system in check was that gambling was relatively inaccessible in our daily lives. That provided a useful barrier to entry. It's simply too convenient for people who can gamble on their phones while waiting for their Starbucks.
This became an issue on Twitch last year with the rise of gambling (ie slots) streams. Some streamers defended it as entertainment (never mind that they're getting paid millions of dollars). But we restrict access (or at least convenient access) to many activities that can become more problematic if they're too convenient. Liquor licensing, age restrictions, locations of venues, that sort of thing.
We've seen this in Australia with poker machines ("pokies" aka slot machines). In the Eastern States social clubs, pubs and the likes can have them. And they make a fortune. This creates huge gambling problems and has for decades. By comparison, Western Australia does not have pokies and is better off for it.
Sports betting is gambling really no different to slot machines. It's slightly better because there's not the immediate feedback loop and there is some skill but it is gambling and easy access to it is bad for many people.
[1]: https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/problem-gambl...