Live data from Hacker News

Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

pewresearch.org

491–500 of 525 posts

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $10MM Ah, so they are just basing their life decisions on falsehoods then? lol I know the world is different now, but I graduated high school in the wake of the 08 financial crisis. A lot of this Zoomer doomerism sounds like what people said about millennials. But I (and my future wife) just went to a state school with in-state tuition. Got tech/eng degrees with some debt (5 figures). Have worked in the industry wi…

Any anecdote will suffer from survivorship bias (and also negative anecdotes). The data on the other hand are very clear that people are not doing as well as their parents. Unless you have a theory as to why Americans simply became more lazy, etc. a starting point should sensibly be a systemic explanation. Also, just speaking about your anecdote, let me add my own. I am also doing fine. Not particularly rich but midd…

I think the data shows Millenials are now doing pretty well. Ofc it's now peak earning years for them.

Funny how that works when the Millenial narrative was very similar to Gen Z's.

Sorry to hear about the dental issues. Is the issue that it isn't covered by medical insurance at all, so out of pocket max isn't at play? Because we had a baby this year and hit our OOPM and it didn't cost nearly that much.

That sort of situation is a problem in America and I wish we'd fix it. But the governing party wants to make it worse and get cheers for that.

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#492
post #388
post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If someone has enough money that wasting it on gambling is a problem, then they clearly had no business giving up hope because "the system" doesn't have the ability to make their lives better. The system that makes their lives better is the money they just wasted, but invested in something productive. This seems to be pretty clearly saying that you think poor people only gamble with money they don't need and if the…

Well that is progress because now you're attributing something to me that is close to what I do believe, which is poor people who gamble probably are poor because they make terrible financial decisions. I mean, you linked an article earlier suggesting that there are people who spend more than 5% of their income on lotto tickets [0]. No mystery why they're poor, they make bad decisions with money. In percentage terms,…

> Bullshit

You can disbelieve my honest report that you are not explaining your position well, but you seem to be confusing me with a differ commentor.

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> OK, so what is to be done when access to labor is gatekept? The unemployment rate in the US is 4.3%. Before you say anything, the U-6 rate is 8.1%.

Okay, so 30 million people, or more conservatively 16 million people. Same question, and before you say anything, don't be condescending. ETA: Maybe most conservatively, let's use only the % uniquely included in U-6 and excluded in standard, or 14.4 million people. I'll claim these 14m people are the "gatekept from full employment" in that they don't qualify as narrowly unemployed unless you include "all people margi…

>Same question. 14m people who are being excluded from labor, are they not free to attempt to generate income via means other than labor, lest they suffer the judgement of Abraham?

This makes no sense. Is it really your claim that 14 million people are kept from working? Do you know what the long term unemployment rate is in the US?

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s reflective of people losing hope in the system’s ability to make their lives better. Kyla Scanlon (?) coined the term "financial nihilism" to describe this feeling: * https://kyla.substack.com/p/gen-z-and-financial-nihilism She thinks it's why things like cryptocurrencies/BTC have taken off: it's a chance to 'hit the jackpot', as many folks don't see another way to (financial) success.

I’m genuinely curious to what extent the hardships younger people face economically are related to wasting huge amounts of time on screens. The average Gen Z person spends nine hours per day on screens. The average 18-24 year old American spends more than three hours per day just on social media. I recognize all the various societal and structural factors that disadvantage younger people. At the same time, people hav…

I'd re-characterize this as being more about seeking entertainment/escapism or an age group rather than casting it as being about a generation and screens.

Screens have had an impact in that they make entertainment more available and accessible on a moment's notice, and types of screen activity do, I believe, impact attention spans. That said, prior to television, humanity was still pretty good at finding ways to escape or entertain themselves, particularly in hard times.

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#495
post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Insurance is moral stewardship, and not unearned gain. In fact, refusing insurance when your neighbors are of the same religion is seen as gambling.

You don’t earn a payout for cancer treatment. It is definitely unearned.

The point goes like this: you and a neighbor start a business. You each make independent choices on health insurance. When he breaks a leg and can’t work for a while, it’s inconvenient but not burdensome for your shared business. But, you chose not to get health insurance. Your melanoma diagnosis looks like $80,000 which you don’t have. Your business partner has a choice: should he liquidate the business, or act in the long term?

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#496
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gambling used to be so illegal in the US that it used its global Internet jurisdiction to shut down poker companies located outside the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Scheinberg

And yet every bar I go to, as far back as I can remember, has slot machines and somehow that doesn't count? Even gas stations. Never understood this.

I never saw this in Pennsylvania until like 4 years ago and now they're everywhere. Most people I know hate them.

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#497
post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Judeo-Christian god does not exist, nor any other god, so I'm not sure what rights you're referring to. Are you referring to human rights? We don't need a religion to justify those. Anyway, you said your argument accounts for it, but didn't actually follow through and demonstrate why that is. How does your argument take into account the aforementioned power imbalances?

God-given rights refers to a certain theory of rights that does not require theism. It is a well and widely understood term whose usage should not invite “correction”. Referring to God-given rights invokes their definition, which should make the inconsistency I was referring to clear.

Can you give a less vague answer?

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#498
post #490
post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rights are merely a simplification of complex interactions. Societies are more focused on what benefits themselves than such simplification. The minimal effectiveness of enhanced interrogation plus the desire of the population not to risk being so interrogated means people are generally apposed to such. Tracking down a nuclear threat is considered something of an exception to this stance by the average person.

This is a simple fallacy. Either you accept the definition of God-given rights, which is certainly not consistent with your opening statement. Or you don’t, at which point any following argument regarding its proper usage is moot. You seem to have gone with the latter, which makes your comment irrelevant. And that is regardless of its truthfulness. To be clear I disagree with it, but getting into that would contribut…

It’s not a rejection of the existence of God-given rights.

It’s a rejection of the idea that people’s list of them would be consistent through time. In 1,000 years people may come up with a list of God-given rights, but it won’t be the same list you use.

As such trying to come up with a list of God-given rights from a human perspective is inherently a flawed undertaking. God is beyond human comprehension.

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#499
post #426

Everything is gambling . You are either gambling money or time or a combination or both to end up ahead in a particular metric that interests you However gambling time is seen as virtous and to be celebrated, whereas gambling money is the devil. At least if you lose money you can make it back, when you gamble time good luck getting back your 4 year studying for a gender studies degree. Also here on HN gambling on a s…

If I gamble by joining a startup, I am trying to provide something of value to someone. Otherwise, my startup will fail. The bet is not societally zero sum in expectation. Long odds, sure, but possibly value creating. If I gamble on a sporting event, the outcome of the sporting event does not change. Someone wins. Someone loses. No value created. The outcome is societally zero sum in expectation.

> > If I gamble on a sporting event, the outcome of the sporting event does not change. Someone wins. Someone loses. No value created. The outcome is societally zero sum in expectation.

If your net worth is less than 100M you have no business concerning yourself with societal value creation in the U.S.

The only reason to create a startup instead of betting on a sporting event is that in the startup although your odds are longer you get to learn a field that presumibly you like and forage in an environment of similarly thinking individuals

Nowadays where the startup world is all about networking and performance art and chasing the wave and all sorts of KPI BS, and sell out to VC firms...give me the sport bet every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Either that or 100M and then I can start worrying about societal outcomes,

Also don't forget that one of the many ways in which for that sport bet windfall could be spent might be donating it to charity

The sport bet is the MVB (minimum viable bet) whereas the startup is this complicated megabet with hundreds moving parts in which you also have to act to either impress your boss or investors (or both)

Re: Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society

#500
When banks created derivatives that could only be fairly valued by the bank, with 5% profit margins built in, it got them a trip to Congress.

SGPs have margins that would make options traders blush and were sold to people with no financial sophistication whatsoever. These things turn your phone into a vampire, and have no socially redeeming value. Please ban them!

Post reply on HN