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The rising human cost of sports betting

nytimes.com

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Re: The rising human cost of sports betting

#31

Post by wolverine876 »

> Wagering on sports is “endemic and acceptable and so mainstream that it is now a major pillar of American entertainment,” said Timothy Fong, one of the directors of the gambling studies program at U.C.L.A.

A rhetorical technique: Make the problem seem inevitable, make any opposition seem powerless. Then make the question about the rest of society adapting to it - everyone has to adapt so the gambling industry can make money. It's becoming the same thing with climate change and the fossil fuel industry (and related vested interests).

Re: The rising human cost of sports betting

#32

Post by [deleted] »

animal_spirits wrote: post #8

Promotion 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.

[deleted]

Re: The rising human cost of sports betting

#33

Post by hannasanarion »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #9

Gambling is like drug use, some people are clearly addicted to it and will ruin their lives over it. How does society respond to this fact? War on drugs, war on gambling, etc. Hmmmmm

Or, instead of declaring war on it, you can regulate it like we do with legal drugs. Ban advertising in most venues, print a disclosure of the dangers on every ad and over the door of every establishment, treat it like the danger it is.

Re: The rising human cost of sports betting

#34

Post by systemvoltage »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #9

Gambling is like drug use, some people are clearly addicted to it and will ruin their lives over it. How does society respond to this fact? War on drugs, war on gambling, etc. Hmmmmm

There was a huge push for banning violent video games in the 90’s - the book “Masters of Doom” covers it. John Carmack and John Romero actively fought for it. Before that, people wanted to ban violent movies in the 60’s.

The more I think about government policies pushed by the likes of NYT, it seems indistinguishable from Chinese Communist Party’s clamp on their population. Banning things for the greater “good” of the society. NZ just banned Tobacco/Cigs. This stance of prohibition from progressives is very unamerican and troubling in the context of US’s core values.

Re: The rising human cost of sports betting

#35

Post by 323 »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #9

Gambling is like drug use, some people are clearly addicted to it and will ruin their lives over it. How does society respond to this fact? War on drugs, war on gambling, etc. Hmmmmm

No, we just legalize gambling, just like we should legalize drug use.

People should be free to use drugs, drink alchool, or gamble.

Re: The rising human cost of sports betting

#36

Post by agumonkey »

paganel wrote: post #24

I can confirm that sports betting is also slowly eating away at what is left of the game of football (soccer, for US HN-ers) over here in Europe. We’ve got the English Premier League and the Champions League that are (maybe) still free of this cancer, as in (maybe) their results and general play are as close to 100%-fair as one can get, but outside of that it’s the Wild West. The second leagues in most of Central and…

I thought it was a European thing but it's worldwide.. sadly.

Re: The rising human cost of sports betting

#37

Post by thehermit »

ben7799 wrote: post #18

I 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.

I think it’s unlikely a game that high profile would be the target of a betting scheme. Much more likely some everyday regular season games, or even specific portion of a game are manipulated. You can bet on things that are way more in your control to win if you have that kind of influence such as a single players performance over a game, one quarter/inning, one hole of golf, etc

Re: The rising human cost of sports betting

#38

Post by 323 »

paganel wrote: post #24

I can confirm that sports betting is also slowly eating away at what is left of the game of football (soccer, for US HN-ers) over here in Europe. We’ve got the English Premier League and the Champions League that are (maybe) still free of this cancer, as in (maybe) their results and general play are as close to 100%-fair as one can get, but outside of that it’s the Wild West. The second leagues in most of Central and…

I don't think the it's all because of betting.

Celebrity culture is another major factor. Players are now becoming famous for being famous soccer players, like the Kardashians. It's irrelevant if they can play or not.

How many followers you have on Instagram is now more important than how many goals you score.

Re: The rising human cost of sports betting

#39

Post by bondarchuk »

bluedino wrote: post #29

Since covid started, it seems like every other commercial these days is for either sports betting (FanDuel, DraftKings) or online casinos (all of the big casino companies have an 'online' counterpart) They all advertise some sort of $100 risk-free bets or something of that nature. Was this some sort of concession to physical casinos since their customers weren't able to come on-site and gamble?

All I know is that here in the Netherlands, online gambling used to be illegal but it was legalized somewhere last year. Now advertisements for this stuff are also allowed, because "people need to be made aware of the legal offerings" (in contrast to the illegal ones).
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