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Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm

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Re: Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone cannot stop gambling, then what moral responsibility do gambling organizations have when giving them offers?

I understand moral arguments but also see how others might not. I think it might be more useful to view this from a societal perspective. Is it to society's benefit to ensure gamblers don't ruin their own lives? To answer that question, what's the cost to society when a gambler ruins their life? Lost savings means an impoverished individual and potentially an impoverished family and children. These draw support resou…

Help me understand the difference between preying on gambling addicts vs preying on gullible old people to get them to buy $500 in apple store gift cards.

Re: Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm

#32
post #20
post #8

>“Although the findings relate to direct marketing, I see no reason why the same or similar adverse effects wouldn’t occur for gambling advertising on TV or social media.” Controlling/banning advertising for Alcohol and Tobacco results in significant health benefits. Sports gambling used to be illegal in many places or limited to specific places. Now that it's available in your pocket, like a pack of smokes or a flas…

The US Supreme Court made it illegal for states to ban gambling ads, as a first amendment issue. I think it was a bad decision.

I wonder if they would overturn that if sufficient evidence of harm were demonstrated. They've been remarkably consistent about permitting violations of constitutional rights where the government can unambiguously demonstrate a pressing need.

Re: Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm

#33
post #2

Super shocking (sarcasm). Gamblers are the whales of that industry. The industry is well aware of that and well aware of how much harm they can cause. But their paychecks depend on not knowing so they choose not to. Same as pay-to-win freemium games. Find the whales and milk them for all you can. For every high-spender who can afford it they know full well the other 99 cannot. They know they are ruining some people's…

No different than Big Tobacco right? They loved researching all the things that weren’t linked to smoking.

Re: Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand moral arguments but also see how others might not. I think it might be more useful to view this from a societal perspective. Is it to society's benefit to ensure gamblers don't ruin their own lives? To answer that question, what's the cost to society when a gambler ruins their life? Lost savings means an impoverished individual and potentially an impoverished family and children. These draw support resou…

Help me understand the difference between preying on gambling addicts vs preying on gullible old people to get them to buy $500 in apple store gift cards.

Huh? I don’t think you should do either.

Re: Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm

#35
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone cannot stop gambling, then what moral responsibility do gambling organizations have when giving them offers?

If you were friends with an alcoholic it would be pretty shitty to give them a bottle of vodka for their birthday. People are not machines, it’s not as simple as deciding whether to do something or not. You have stronger and weaker days. Temptation makes it harder to do what is in your best interests, even if you’ve decided on another day that you’d rather not partake. Getting concrete about gambling: lots of people…

It seems like a gambling addiction is the same as not having the capacity to choose not to. Is that a misunderstanding?

Re: Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm

#36
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it's so bad for gamblers, why don't they stop? That's not how addiction works.

If someone cannot stop gambling, then what moral responsibility do gambling organizations have when giving them offers?

[dead]

Re: Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm

#37

why can't we have a law that just caps your gambling losses? Everyone gets a federally issued gambling license tied to your ID, if you lose more than X amount the casino is no longer legally allowed to let you play. Casual gamblers can still enjoy, problem gamblers get cut off; just like with alcohol at the bar.

Interesting approach but crack is illegal and still people are addicted to it.

Re: Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm

#38

why can't we have a law that just caps your gambling losses? Everyone gets a federally issued gambling license tied to your ID, if you lose more than X amount the casino is no longer legally allowed to let you play. Casual gamblers can still enjoy, problem gamblers get cut off; just like with alcohol at the bar.

Someone could create a market where problem gamblers can buy wagering power (the ability to risk more after reaching their own loss cap) from non-gamblers unless you force physical in person gambling with ID checks. Gambling should return to being legal in Vegas and on reservations, 24/7 gambling anywhere is very problematic.

They can but most non gamblers wouldn't partictpate. Many non gomblers won't particitate because they might go to vegas this year and so want the chance.

Re: Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm

#39

why can't we have a law that just caps your gambling losses? Everyone gets a federally issued gambling license tied to your ID, if you lose more than X amount the casino is no longer legally allowed to let you play. Casual gamblers can still enjoy, problem gamblers get cut off; just like with alcohol at the bar.

Someone could create a market where problem gamblers can buy wagering power (the ability to risk more after reaching their own loss cap) from non-gamblers unless you force physical in person gambling with ID checks. Gambling should return to being legal in Vegas and on reservations, 24/7 gambling anywhere is very problematic.

Alcohol should only be legal in pubs and bars; alcohol in Disney World, on planes, and in grocery stores is very problematic.

Re: Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm

#40
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were friends with an alcoholic it would be pretty shitty to give them a bottle of vodka for their birthday. People are not machines, it’s not as simple as deciding whether to do something or not. You have stronger and weaker days. Temptation makes it harder to do what is in your best interests, even if you’ve decided on another day that you’d rather not partake. Getting concrete about gambling: lots of people…

It seems like a gambling addiction is the same as not having the capacity to choose not to. Is that a misunderstanding?

I think… sort of.

I feel like you’re trying to force some sort of binary here, but I’m trying to say that you may choose not to gamble in general, on day X, but find that you do gamble later.

In fact I would say that many gambling addicts have _chosen_ _not_ to gamble in some sense, but in another moment they do find that they choose to. There’s a temporal aspect to this.

Advertising gambling to those people makes it less likely that they will follow through on their choices.

Do you always do literally everything you choose with a clear head? Never procrastinate, get angry, feel sad, whatever? It’s really hard for me to see your perspective on this.

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