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

pewresearch.org

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

#511

Post by mercutio2 »

ta1243 wrote: post #403
mercutio2 wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re either using nominal, not real, returns, or assuming that passive fund is taking on a lot of risk/recency bias. If you had said $2 million, I’d say that’s closer to accurate, although there’s still a conversation to be had about risk vs return.

Over the last 30 years the s&p with reinvested dividends has returned an average 9%, so fine, $90k off $1m assets. Median wage in the USA is globally very high at just over $60k.

30 years corresponds to the biggest boom in equities the world has ever seen. There is no guarantee it will continue, a 100% stock portfolio is very risky to live off of.

4% is the generally accepted safe withdrawal rate (inflation adjusted) from a portfolio for 30 years holding a mix of bond funds and equities. If you’re trying to live off of it for 50-60 years, 3-3.5% is the recommendation.

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

#512

Post by dpark »

sigwinch wrote: post #495
dpark wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

I’m not disputing your “moral stewardship” claim. I’m saying that this doesn’t change the unearned nature of the payout.

If paying into insurance “earns” the payout, then everyone who pays in and doesn’t take a payout is being stolen from.

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

#515

Post by borroka »

bruce511 wrote: post #13

Is it bad for society? It's certainly bad for individuals, and by extension their families. I guess if it scales up such that a serious chunk of society is affected, then yes its bad for society. Let's start with the obvious- in all forms of gambling the gamblers make a net loss. The games are hosted by very sophisticated companies, that have better mathematicians, and make money. $x is pumped into the system by the…

Society's desire for regulation of behavior ebbs and flows.

Not limited to the US:

prostitution was legal and then it was not and now there is a laissez-faire of some kind in some places, in others there are brothels, in others you cannot, strictly speaking, but in practice it is whatever;

The consumption of alcohol was initially allowed, then forbidden, and later allowed again. Nowadays, some "thought leaders" are again somewhat pushing, if not for regulation, for public condemnation;

Abortion, same-sex sexual relationships, gambling, drugs, they all follow a similar pattern of regulation-liberalization-regulation- (random order), answering to "society" or some prominent voices within or the ever fleeting vibes of the times.

In other words, it does not make, strictly speaking, sense that certain behaviors are regulated or prohibited, and others are not.

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

#516

Post by eggsandbeer »

Gunax wrote: post #422
eggsandbeer wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an incredibly selfish attitude.

Yes. I know it's incredibly selfish to push your laws on my body because you don't have self control. How do you sleep at night, knowing you're a nosy fascist?

[dead]

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

#517

Post by victorbjorklund »

keiferski wrote: post #125
victorbjorklund wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say gambling in itself isnt immoral. The problem is that a small % of people get addicted and end up spending all their money and more on betting. And that the industry makes almost all their profits on those that are addicted.

Sure, we could get into a discussion on the morality of gambling itself, but if we look at pretty much every global ethical tradition (Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, etc.) it is frowned upon strongly. It seems to me like widespread gambling = negative social effects is a pretty widespread, obvious conclusion that most civilizations have reached. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling#Religious_views

Homosexuality and lots of other things were frowned upon by lots of religions. We probably should not base our morality on thousands of year old religions.

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

#518

Post by jama211 »

yieldcrv wrote: post #288
adriand wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Do I have a point or is this just victim blaming? A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B so the nihilism is real and warranted, if they don't inherit at least a downpayment for a house from you while you are still alive, the jobs available - even for highly pedigreed people - don't provide the income for the downpayment, for the most part. they would need arbitrage with high paying work in a very low co…

Well said

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

#519

Post by jama211 »

adriand wrote: post #305
yieldcrv wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do I have a point or is this just victim blaming? A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B so the nihilism is real and warranted, if they don't inherit at least a downpayment for a house from you while you are still alive, the jobs available - even for highly pedigreed people - don't provide the income for the downpayment, for the most part. they would need arbitrage with high paying work in a very low co…

I appreciate the thoughtful reply. I guess one theory, then, of excessive screen time is nihilistic too: if you can’t get ahead, why not spend your time absorbed in an alternate reality, perhaps including alternate realities where you can get ahead, like GTA. That said, what I see in young people around me (because of my age, there’s quite a few) is a lot of addiction, not nihilism. These are kids with opportunities…

Honestly the way you keep trying to tie this all back to screen time is worrying, it feels like you’re taking the preconceived conclusion that screen time is a huge part of this and trying to make it fit the data, when it’s just as likely it’s quite a small component of the issue compared to much larger societal and economical reasons young people are in these situations.

I think you want it to be screen time because seeing people with high screen time affects you emotionally, and you subconsciously want it to be something that simple - and potentially something that can be changed through choice so some blame can be placed on the victims. Such a thing is attractive to a certain type of mind. That’s why I said you were holding a hammer looking for nails, you’re holding a screen time hammer and that’s not the way you should approach this if you want the scientific truth.

Good luck out there.

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

#520

Post by HaZeust »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #460
HaZeust wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Anyone who can do that is extraordinary, but I hope that isn't how we expect our future generations to operate." Although I'm roughly half the age of the median HN user, and don't have a lot of life experience, one thing I've learned over the last few years - particularly during covid - is that people will accomplish success after a difficult circumstance, and will come out one of two ways (which often decides thei…

That is a pretty broad use of "it". It could be having to accept working at a boba shop for a year during labor market fluctuations. It could even be having to choose a different career altogether if the demand in that market simply no longer exists. It could also be losing one's home because their kid got sick and they had a job that didn't offer PTO. Or a mom not being able to breastfeed because their government do…

The use of "it" meant a "difficult circumstance", which are also pretty broad - because calling a circumstance difficult is highly subjective and oftentimes held up on nothing, unless it can hold up to scrutiny.
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