The operating cost of adult and gambling startups • Hacker News Board

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#191

Post by singleshot_ » Fri, Apr 24, 2026, 11:54 PM UTC

sigmoid10 wrote: post #46

joosters wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the more relevant point is: But almost all social networks and search engines won’t let you advertise without a license from the required jurisdiction. Which is a good thing! This is an area full of scammers, if you can't set up your business legally, I'm very happy to hear it's more difficult for you to advertise it.

I mean, you also can't advertise illegal drugs either. Doesn't seem to curb demand though. It may actually be more beneficial to allow these things more broadly, because then social safety features can be wedged in between consumers and suppliers more easily and they don't have to deal with a gigantic shadow market that already gets stigmatised to death by the rest of the population. Just accept that a certain percen…

The number of weed billboards in my town obliterates your opening assertion.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#192

Post by LorenPechtel » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 12:31 AM UTC

singleshot_ wrote: post #191

sigmoid10 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you also can't advertise illegal drugs either. Doesn't seem to curb demand though. It may actually be more beneficial to allow these things more broadly, because then social safety features can be wedged in between consumers and suppliers more easily and they don't have to deal with a gigantic shadow market that already gets stigmatised to death by the rest of the population. Just accept that a certain percen…

The number of weed billboards in my town obliterates your opening assertion.

Data from Amsterdam: Legalization did not increase use. Permitting advertising did. Prohibiting advertising took use back to baseline.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#193

Post by itake » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 12:32 AM UTC

b40d-48b2-979e wrote: post #100

derangedHorse wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Built to make people's lives worse" is an opinion. There are people who gamble without getting addicted and treat it as good fun. Why shouldn't I be able to bet a small amount on a team I like in Fantasy Football? I've never gambled more than I could afford to lose nor have I felt the need to do it habitually. I get that there are some people who are not like me, but you seem to think that there are only people who…

There's a difference between betting between your friends on FF versus creating a system of gambling that takes advantage of the least fortunate among us.

This is the same thinking that governments are justify the age verification and ID tracking: the system makes an opportunity for old people to get scammed, so everyone needs to give up their privacy.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#194

Post by casey2 » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 12:38 AM UTC

This is really only true for companies operating in old spaces. If you are on the ground floor of social media or roblox then there is no stigma against that fact that you are exploiting children, child labor, and profit on massively increasing the likelihood that they are exploited by predators

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#195

Post by itake » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 12:38 AM UTC

3form wrote: post #189

embedding-shape wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example, porn meets some actual human needs and has a certain function - but gambling? Simple abuse at scale. Now I'm as as free-minded as people typically gets, but both of those are just "entertainment" for me, one is not more "essential" than the other, what exact "human need" does pornography meet that somehow gambling doesn't also meet, since we're not talking about "fun" or "entertainment" here but someth…

Sure - what comes to mind: - helps in managing sexual needs, which can be difficult to handle otherwise, and especially replace - educational: whether it is about workings of sex, ideas to improve your sex life with a partner, or something to discover about yourself I suppose there's more to it, but most other things I can think of are an extension to meeting sexual needs.

> helps in managing sexual needs

There are plenty of "sexual needs" that society says "no, you can't satisfy them." (for example, Nguyễn Xuân Đạt).

I don't think sexual needs are needs that can't be managed without media.

> educational: whether it is about workings of sex

I find when a partner characterizes porn, the sex is worse... Maybe other people enjoy the sounds or behaviors seen in the videos, but not for me.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#196

Post by casey2 » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 12:40 AM UTC

gwbas1c wrote: post #117

Wow, I'm shocked at the negative attitudes in this thread. Porn and gambling are legit businesses, even if you don't like it. (And some people used to argue that part of the rise of the PC was because some people bought it as a "porn machine.") It's important to keep these things (almost) in the open, because when they become illegal, criminals move in and people get hurt. When I was an intern at a big-name, conserva…

Actually when they become illegal less people do them. The problem is that you view men (criminials) killing each other as a bigger loss than women being raped, killed and objectified. There is an optimal ballance, but you are unable to see it because of your bias towards dehumanizing women, caused by porn addiction.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#197

Post by gosub100 » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 12:42 AM UTC

antonymoose wrote: post #7

b40d-48b2-979e wrote: post #5

You may have a cool product in the field of sports betting, casinos, or lotteries. But almost all social networks and search engines won’t let you advertise without a license from the required jurisdiction. Good . You should face social stigma for creating products that literally ruin people's lives.

Not to mention the entitlement of startups to just flaunt laws and regulations. Still kills me to this day Uber and AirBNB running illegal billion dollar operations. I suppose one can at least say Uber mitigates drunk driving tendencies. As far as AirBNB goes, it can rot straight in hell. My hometown is now 20% AirBNB, they ran illegally for many years, and this completely prices out normal folks trying to live near…

The taxi medallion racket in NYC was pretty bad. I do agree it must be regulated but their system was broken. I am interested in the legal maneuvering they employed to actually win in court, but I've never seen a breakdown.

That said I mostly agree with your points. But why didn't cab companies innovate and provide us with the same service? A yellow spandex cover that converts any car into a cab, a points program giving discounts, a ride share app that carries 5 people who all ride the same route? They instead provided nothing, other than dirty cabs with bullet proof glass (in "gun free" zones nonetheless)

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#198

Post by gosub100 » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 1:01 AM UTC

cj wrote: post #14

A_Duck wrote: post #3

What's the author trying to say here? It's good that the law isn't the only line between good and evil. A bit of stigma is a bottom-up way for people to shape society. If nobody invites you to dinner parties because you run a startup that combines payday-lending and day-trading, that's a good thing. It's free alpha for companies doing more worthwhile things.

> line between good and evil Talking about good and evil in tech is a slippery slope. What's worse, working at Meta building products causing addiction in kids, or building an adult content site? I think there's an argument that Meta is morally worse, yet there's no stigma associated with having Meta on your resume. I find that interesting.

Let me challenge your POV for a moment..

What about proportionally of abuse?

How many married people met on fb? Estranged family members reunited, long lost friends who found each other again? Etc.

It's impossible to know the number for those, but I vividly remember how difficult it was to find people before fb. And they made it trivial because of critical mass.

I'll acknowledge that this has also led to a lot of unwanted "finding" too. Again, we cannot calculate. But it's worth bringing up proportionality. Because you could make the same argument about a mass retailer like Walmart. They sell tires that were used in drunk driving crashes, they sold food eaten by obese people, they sold cigarettes (at least thru the 90s) to lung cancer victims, etc. You can skew the data however you like because they sold items to so many customers. But they also fed a lot of families and reduced the cost of living (sometimes by nefarious means) for a lot of poor people.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#199

Post by LorenPechtel » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 1:09 AM UTC

malfist wrote: post #21

engineer_22 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in New York. A very old very famous manufacturer of firearms, Remington Arms, which employed hundreds of people and was the economic engine of its community was forced by the State of New York to shut down. That community cannot replace what was lost when the factory closed. Poverty, crime, drugs have moved in to the void. You may be right that guns are are corrosive to a democratic society, that's an open deb…

Your statement is not grounded in the truth. Remnington did not shut down because of government interference. They employed a grand total of 100 people in NY. Hardly the "economic engine of its community" They shutdown because they sold 7.5 million guns that could fire without someone pulling the trigger and 60 minutes exposed it. And you should know that their building is being converted into a 250,000 sqft AI data…

Yup. When you make a boo-boo that big there's no recovery. And since they hid the problem it grew and grew. Personally, I would like to see hiding major safety defects become a criminal charge with the provision that if you go to the cops before they come looking that you're not guilty even if you share in the guilt.

Re: The operating cost of adult and gambling startups

#200

Post by LorenPechtel » Sat, Apr 25, 2026, 1:24 AM UTC

3form wrote: post #11

A_Duck wrote: post #3

What's the author trying to say here? It's good that the law isn't the only line between good and evil. A bit of stigma is a bottom-up way for people to shape society. If nobody invites you to dinner parties because you run a startup that combines payday-lending and day-trading, that's a good thing. It's free alpha for companies doing more worthwhile things.

I don't like mixing of everything 18+ in the article. I think the author wants to put all the stigma in one basket, and I don't it's as simple. For example, porn meets some actual human needs and has a certain function - but gambling? Simple abuse at scale. I think like you argue, society shaping business is good. And some people should really reevaluate what they're going for if that's too much for them.

Very much agree.

I have no problems with the porn industry--if anything I think the requirements are too strict. Being able to inspect the records during business hours looks innocent enough, but it assumes you have an office and business hours. And it requires more dissemination of real identities than ideal. Virtually all the sins it's blamed for aren't accurate. About the only valid objection is that porn is no more realistic sex than Hollywood is realistic life. And because we won't do something sensible like actually teach kids about it there are problems from not having other models and not understanding how unrealistic it is.

Gambling, nuke from orbit. Large scale gambling operations have no redeeming social value.