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US gambling addiction is ‘out of control’ as betting markets boom, policy expert warns (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [M] to c/collapse@sopuli.xyz
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You ever notice how little oxygen in the room there is to panic about the catastrophic rise of gambling and betting markets on smartphones yet there is unlimited oxygen in the tech press to panic about social media smartphone use and AI in a way that "paradoxically" favors consolidation of power into those realms and distracts from a massively profitable collapse of the well being of vulnerable people into gambling addiction?

https://www.techdirt.com/2025/12/15/australias-social-media-ban-was-pushed-by-ad-agency-focused-on-gambling-ads-it-didnt-want-banned/

https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/12/12/pro-teen-social-media-ban-group-funded-firm-making-gambling-ads/

We’ve talked about the Australian social media ban that went into effect last week, how dumb it is, and why it’s already a mess.

But late last week, some additional news broke that makes the whole thing even more grotesque: turns out the campaign pushing hardest for the ban was run by an ad agency that makes gambling ads. The same gambling ads that were facing their own potential ban—until the Australian government decided that, hey, with all the kids kicked off social media, gambling ads can stay.

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[–] [S] 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

That is a great point, I guess the way I see things is that drug use and addiction can be very real but also they demand context to explain their hold over people.

Gambling addiction can be real, and also it can be arguably rational as you say to throw away what little you have for a remote chance to score because you are never going to get anything otherwise. Both things can be true at the same time and people can move from one motivation to the next organically, in my opinion this makes the problem more insidious.

At the end of the day gambling is a shit drug, but I don't judge people for taking drugs really, it is a pointless exercise that can only ever result in a lobotomization of your empathy.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah you're right, definitely gambling plays a big role. I remember the one and only time I went to a bingo hall, it was filled with people who were clearly very uneducated and unintelligent, and I say this with kindness, getting very excited about how "that one was so close!", while of course neglecting that this line of reasoning makes no actual statistical sense....it was clear the whole thing was there to take advantage of people who didn't understand how severely the odds were against them. So yeah, its definitely both things.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 4 months ago

    The thing is, group activities where you witness people take long odds and sometimes succeed is kind of the basis of all public entertainment, what I think is so hurtful is turning that impulse to such predatory means to strip away everything people have.

    I would love a casino where the slot machines were actually good video games and there either isn't the easy capacity to gamble away large sums of money.

    Similarly under less brutal economic conditions the idea of a poker group between friends with a small cash input could be fun....

    I mean I have enjoyed playing randomized doubles disc golf matches at courses where everyone throws in $5.

    What makes gambling evil is the incredible magnitude of damage it can do to people and how much culturally we give permission to casinos/betting companies to do so.

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