Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

America’s bad bet on expanding legal sports gambling

vox.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 102 posts

Re: America’s bad bet on expanding legal sports gambling

#41

Post by Invictus0 »

OkayPhysicist wrote: post #8
nickpeterson wrote: post #6

This one is going to hit really hard over time, because it normalizes betting on sports. Children will grow up in environments where it’s just what people do. How far are we from allowing people to bet money on high school sports? We’re going to start having big problems with degenerate gambling addictions in 10-15 years.

I don't know where you grew up, but gambling on sports was already extremely normalized in my experience. Some sports more than others, but it's rare to go to a Superbowl party or the like without discussion of "making it interesting".

Betting 20 bucks on the super bowl once a year with your friends is worlds away from "normalized gambling".

Re: America’s bad bet on expanding legal sports gambling

#42

Post by KyeRussell »

nickpeterson wrote: post #6

This one is going to hit really hard over time, because it normalizes betting on sports. Children will grow up in environments where it’s just what people do. How far are we from allowing people to bet money on high school sports? We’re going to start having big problems with degenerate gambling addictions in 10-15 years.

Yep, as another commenter said, you don’t really need to make guesses here. Just look at Australia. “The odds” are so intrenched in talking about the game itself, that kids are naturally taught the lingo and that watching / betting on sports go hand in hand. We are in the process of trying to wind this shit back, but unfortunately at this point we’ve had enough time to build a powerful sports betting lobby, including the sporting clubs and leagues themselves. A politician has no powerful friends when they decide to fight this issue, and it makes them a lot of powerful enemies.

Re: America’s bad bet on expanding legal sports gambling

#43

Post by mistyvales »

In Minnesota, the taxpayers are paying for corporate welfare to the tune of billions of dollars via multiple Pro sports stadiums, the main one being the Vikings stadium. Back when Jesse Ventura was governor, he had a plan to run statewide legal sports betting to pay for those stadiums (since the multi-billion dollar NFL corp wasn't going to).

Of course it was squashed immediately without any research or investigation into how it would be implemented, but it is one example of a positive outcome from sports betting. People are going to bet regardless of the system, but I'd rather people that actually care about sports pay into a massive stadium than that average person wondering why the taxes have gone up.

Side note: If you get a drink downtown Mpls, you're not only paying tax for the Vikings stadium, you're also paying a penny or so tax for the Metrodome which was torn down nearly 10 years ago.

Re: America’s bad bet on expanding legal sports gambling

#44

Post by [deleted] »

jcranmer wrote: post #14
agentwiggles wrote: post #2

Meanwhile, states and cities are trying to illegalize vaping while leaving cigarettes on shelves, not to mention continuing the criminally stupid "war on drugs" in ways too myriad to count while retaining one's sanity. _sigh_

In all seriousness: where are e-cigarettes more restricted than cigarettes?

[deleted]

Re: America’s bad bet on expanding legal sports gambling

#47

Post by Barrin92 »

Arrath wrote: post #34

I've long looked askance at the rise of legal sports betting, back to the draft kings ads. It just feels so utterly insidious. The machine that is capital is running out of ways to extract money from us little folk, and wider spread gambling is the last gasp? I dunno, hard to express. It just gives me a bad feeling.

When I moved to Japan one of the sadder things for me in smaller towns was how many old people just spend their entire day playing pachinko. It seemed legitimately like the largest economic activity in some places.

Re: America’s bad bet on expanding legal sports gambling

#48

Post by paulpauper »

mistyvales wrote: post #43

In Minnesota, the taxpayers are paying for corporate welfare to the tune of billions of dollars via multiple Pro sports stadiums, the main one being the Vikings stadium. Back when Jesse Ventura was governor, he had a plan to run statewide legal sports betting to pay for those stadiums (since the multi-billion dollar NFL corp wasn't going to). Of course it was squashed immediately without any research or investigation…

Not just welfare for the stadium, but sports betting means more literal welfare for people who can afford it least. Sports betting takes money from the least successful and funnels it off in the worst, least productive way possible.

Re: America’s bad bet on expanding legal sports gambling

#49

Post by wartron »

jcranmer wrote: post #14
agentwiggles wrote: post #2

Meanwhile, states and cities are trying to illegalize vaping while leaving cigarettes on shelves, not to mention continuing the criminally stupid "war on drugs" in ways too myriad to count while retaining one's sanity. _sigh_

In all seriousness: where are e-cigarettes more restricted than cigarettes?

San Francisco
Post reply on HN