Smartphone Gambling Is a Disaster(afterbabel.com) |
Smartphone Gambling Is a Disaster(afterbabel.com) |
And the societal value is...it's fun? Even that I push back on because gambling interferes with your relationship with the event. Once you place a bet, you are literally invested in the outcome. On the one hand, yes, of course this enhances the felt outcome of victory if your bet pays off. On the other, it closes you off to enjoying whatever happens on its own terms. The home team often loses so you need to find away to enjoy the experience even if the outcome isn't what you hoped for. This allows you to actually appreciate the players on both sides and enjoy the competition for what it always actually is: an exhibition of human skill, enjoyable on its own terms (or not, if you aren't interested in that particular skill).
Gambling also brings the worst kind of people into your community. Both producers and consumers. The gamblers do not actually value the event and the operators want to distract you from the event and turn you into a gambler. I have written off the nba, which I used to greatly enjoy, because of the faustian bargain they have made with the sports gambling companies.
Foe example, low-stakes social gambling (like poker nights among friends) or government-run lotteries, which often channel proceeds into public goods like education or infrastructure, arguably differ both in intent and impact from high-frequency online slots or algorithmically designed mobile apps, which are far more closely associated with compulsive behavior and financial harm.
Furthermore, sports betting - while not without risk - has become deeply embedded in the modern sports economy. In many countries, including the U.S. and parts of Europe, major leagues and teams rely heavily on gambling sponsorships, which help fund operations, media production, and fan engagement tools. This raises a difficult but necessary question: is the commercialization of sports through betting inherently destructive, or is it simply a reflection of broader entertainment market dynamics?
Certainly, there are real and well-documented harms related to problem gambling, and these deserve serious regulatory attention. But equating all gambling activity with moral or social decay risks oversimplifying a complex ecosystem. A more differentiated framework - one that considers levels of risk, regulatory oversight, consumer protections, and even positive externalities like job creation and tax contributions - may lead to more productive dialogue and policy outcomes.
Super weird that apparently 1/3rd of the country does it but exactly 0 people in my social circle talk about it.
or something like that. its not a bad shout either. whats the retort? "become a specialist and - oh, work 20 years and you too can have a two bed..." - rough deal.
they really should just ban all this stuff, including crypto. but i suspect the powers-that-be are quite content with these wealth-transfer pipelines.
so - gambling it is then.
More than half of trading in options in major indexes like S&P 500 is now driven by retail trading 0DTE options - which are options that expire on the same day. There is absolutely no way to predict what will happen on a particular day in the index - so this is 100% pure gambling.
The damage is already big enough, but it will become catastrophic for young people addicted to it, once the bubble pop.
In all it could be just the Hype Cycle for online gambling, until it crashes into the Trout of Disillusionment, then recovers and hits a plateau where it's just not a thing.