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Addiction Markets

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181–190 of 479 posts

Re: Addiction Markets

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather we actually deal with the issues causing these things than sweep them under the rug and pretend like it's an actual solution. > Build houses. That doesn't solve homelessness, as we build many houses in America but they aren't being filled with the homeless. You need to apply social services in a complex systematic approach to provide housing that people can afford sustainably, and rehabilitate and integrat…

> thousands of incidents were suppressed from the media cycle Where can I read more about this?

I'm not aware of any good reading material on it, and that's probably intentional. The FERC mentions the rise in power grid attacks somewhat in their annual report of 2023[1]. The incidents are underreported officially, and don't include police/FBI raids intercepting conspiracies, nor do they include the wave of attacks on cell towers. I only know about it because I spent quarantine in a community that had a nationwide dragnet of scanners listening exclusively for this stuff.

[1] - https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2023-05/23_Summer-A...

Re: Addiction Markets

#182
We should do licenses for gambling that cap betting at some percentage of your income or wealth. For example: you earn 50k annually, you get to gamble 250 or 0.5%.

Re: Addiction Markets

#183
post #16

This line from the ads always strikes me as darkly ironic: > if you need help making responsible choices, call… Like, the only “responsible” choice is not to gamble online. What do they even think we’re supposed to take away from that line of the commercial?

> the only “responsible” choice is not to gamble online I don't gamble at all in any form, but I still firmly disagree. Some people enjoy gambling in a way that never hurts them-- I've known countless friends and coworkers who talk about doing a bit of it in Vegas or what have you. You're saying every last one is a degenerate gambler somehow concealing it totally from me? They know they're not going net positive on t…

[deleted]

Re: Addiction Markets

#184
post #88

> Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong rattled off crypto buzzwords at the end of the Q3 call, resolving $84K in prediction market bets to "yes." https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/1984161085780263322

Polymarket is not even close to the same thing. Sports betting allows a blessed few corporations to run rigged markets and intentionally prevent price discovery by keeping the smart money out. Polymarket uses open orderbooks where you match against someone else who wants the other side of the trade just like the stock market. Prices are set by the market, as they should be.

That is completely wrong. Who is the other peer in your transaction on Polymarket or Kalshi?

Susquehanna. Jane Street. Two Sigma.

It's not some rando two towns over. The PMs get paid to front run access to these market makers, who crush the retail bettor, er, predictor.

Re: Addiction Markets

#185

On a somewhat related note, there seems to be a huge interest in vice policing on social media. Gambling, sex, drugs, these are some of humanity's oldest vices. Why has it become so popular on social media to highlight these, along with a narrative of social or cultural decline?

I think part of it is just every change in something, there is strong push back until we establish good equilibrium as society.

With Sport Betting, throwing advertisements and having bets talked about by sports analysts during the game is starting to be seen as bad thing because it's seen as really bad habit, like smoking and maybe society should attempt to regulate it better.

Re: Addiction Markets

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Polymarket is not even close to the same thing. Sports betting allows a blessed few corporations to run rigged markets and intentionally prevent price discovery by keeping the smart money out. Polymarket uses open orderbooks where you match against someone else who wants the other side of the trade just like the stock market. Prices are set by the market, as they should be.

It’s not that hard to look at lines at Pinnacle and Circa and make estimates about the fair value of a wager. Open accounts at every book and line shop and maximize expected value. Also you are ignoring platforms like Novig which are like the polymarket for sports betting.

Betting platforms specifically work to identify customers who act in such ways and ban them from the platform. Developing accurate odds costs money, it's cheaper to just identify "advantage bettors" and ban them.

Re: Addiction Markets

#187

It feels like banning advertising for gambling would be a sweet spot between harm reduction and maintaining individual liberty. Sports gambling ads have ruined sports media. State lottery ads are even worse. The government should not spend money to encourage its own citizens to partake in harmful activities.

>> It feels like banning advertising for gambling would be a sweet spot between harm reduction and maintaining individual liberty No. If you want restrictions on gambling, on advertising it, on participating in it, on making money from it, you want to restrict individual liberty. I want to restrict individual liberty, I have voted against gambling when it has come up for a vote in my state over and over. You want to…

"If you want restrictions on gambling, on advertising it, on participating in it, on making money from it, you want to restrict individual liberty."

I grant that, but I never claimed the contrary. I never suggested that banning advertising reduces ALL harm or preserves ALL individual liberty. I just believe an ad ban is a good compromise position.

I'm a former smoker. I would have been outraged had the government tried to ban cigarettes while I was addicted to nicotine. But there's a difference between allowing people to have their vices and allowing people to spend hundreds of millions in multi-media advertising campaigns convincing others to pick up a new one.

Re: Addiction Markets

#188

On a somewhat related note, there seems to be a huge interest in vice policing on social media. Gambling, sex, drugs, these are some of humanity's oldest vices. Why has it become so popular on social media to highlight these, along with a narrative of social or cultural decline?

[deleted]

Re: Addiction Markets

#189
post #107

There has recently been many looks at the epidemic in gambling. Wonder how all of the focus seem to happen at the same time Off the top of my head: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-31/great-bri... https://kyla.substack.com/p/gamblemerica-how-sports-betting-... https://www.ft.com/content/e80df917-2af7-4a37-b9af-55d23f941... https://www.dopaminemarkets.com/p/the-lottery-fication-of-ev... https://www.inve…

I find it odd that almost nobody ever refers stock trading as gambling. While for most persons it is nothing else.

Because stock trading isn't zero sum.

Re: Addiction Markets

#190
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, the war on gambling was going fine before it was legalized nationwide like 2 years ago. We don't have to have long memories to remember a time before omnipresent sports betting! It was fine!

Fyi, the Supreme Court case that opened the floodgates for sports gambling was decided in May 2018, 7.5 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_v._National_Collegiate_...

Yes, yes, referring to 7.5 as 2 is something called hyperbole.
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