The word is 'lose', not 'spend'.

This is a very American thing.

Measuring popularity in terms of money spent.

By this metric, spending time with loved ones or going for a short walk has zero popularity.

Sign of a real healthy society, that.

I hate this country more every day

The amount of money spent doesn't really accurately represent how much a past time is "liked", since money (obviously) isn't distributed evenly. A more useful metric would be how much time people spend doing this in comparison to the other options, which is impossible to measure. Also in theory it could be literally 1 or 2 people doing the gambling if they have enough money, while everyone else goes to museums and listens to music.

It's even more true with the other options not being exactly expensive (in particular museums, but the other options are will). Try spending 50k $ gambling: no problem. Try spending 1k $ going to museums: you'll be busy for 2 years or something.

Basically the whole premise is just dumb.

What a deranged headline.

Its comparison is nonsensical.

No sane person gambles for entertaining purposes.

People gamble because they are addicts or in need of money.

Yeah in part that is because it isn't a pastime it's a full blown life crippling addiction for a lot of people.

Anything but vote for somebody to tax wealth instead of work.

There's no hope for this place. May our children forgive us.

Well... you don't get money back from movies, arts, museums, or music, but there is a miniscule chance you could from gambling.

With the economy the way it is, it's more likely people are just desperate. And some are definitely addicted, of course.

Gambling always goes up as the economy gets worse for the average worker.

Americans love the surprising new hobby of shooting up fentanyl, spending more on it than food or housing!

Gambling is very common in a depression economy.

The headline hurts my head.

Not a murican, but recently we wanted to visit a museum on Saturday. We expected it to be a nightmare. And we were the only ones. Saturday before we were in a gigantic mall and it was a literal nightmare. Like an antfarm of workerants spending their weekend.

That museum made me sad, it didn't even cost money and had tons of interesting things to offer. But people prefer anthills and spending bigtime on silly brands.

Another generation further and we probably can close the museums.

I don't gamble but at that same time, I can't pirate gambling.

Gambling should be banned. And not just the prediction markets and sports-book, but the lottery too.

It's just theft with extra steps.

I had figured it would, once gambling regulations were bypassed, and no-one recognized that gambling houses make for a moral hazard.

For a long time the US economy has depended on companies exploiting human cognitive biases and addictive mechanisms, from selling booze to bank service fees, to click-wrapped ToS agreements, and yes, to gambling.

There's a reason we regulated it, much the way we regulate advertising so that it's not deceptive.

One beef is the slop of fear and rage that is used to sell far right news media. FOX News even encourages its viewership to abandon all over news sources, like an abusive domestic partner.

If we don't figure out a way out of it, so that confidence ploys and cognitive manipulation for profit are once again regarded as foul play and business in bad faith, then we're just going to be owned by the ownership class. Literally.

But they're not very smart, so they'll not do a thing to address the climate crisis.

This is horrible for America.

Matthew Broderick, an actor I used to respect, is now doing commercials for another gambling app, except this one isn't sports or cards or slots, it's games that resemble Candy Crush, etc. with a gambling component built in.

They aren't targeting young men with this one, they are targeting middle-aged women, and not just any middle-aged women, they are targeting those with unfulfilled lives. I've seen three separate ads, and all of them feature middle-aged women who are being ignored or treated badly by their families. They look sad, until Ferris Beuller sidles up and gives them this fun new game to play, and forget their troubles. I've never seen a more blatant attempt to take advantage of a emotionally unstable person than these ads. They are reprehensible.

Add to that, the fact that many household budgets are handled by the Wife/Mom. It's only a matter of time before we start seeing stories of women who lost the family home because they gambled away the family finances.

This is insidious. They are trying to keep as much money out of our hands as possible, and what we do get, they scheme to take it all away. They want us to die penniless.

To make everyone feel even more awful, the "commercials before the movie" will probably start to have "financial engagement opportunities" as the theater houses look to try to stay alive. Pro sports venues will make it more "in your face" and offer discounts on food if you are wagering or better seats or free game tickets or some shit. Books, well most Americans don't read as adults so I think that'll continue it's current state at least. Live theater could wager on what color Hamlet's scene two entrance clothes will be....at the end of the day they'll probably hop on for survival since many of their patrons or past donors are similarly disengaging.

healthy society, good economy

"So long as they (the Proles) continued to work and breed, their other activities were without importance. Left to themselves, like cattle turned loose upon the plains of Argentina, they had reverted to a style of life that appeared to be natural to them, a sort of ancestral pattern...Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult."

George Orwell, 1984

Join me at the table if you'd like to place a bet

All the cash that's filling your pockets is waiting to be spent

I know you've never played but drinks are free, its so bizarre

And even if you lose a few chips, it's cheaper than the bar

I can hear Ronnie Chieng and Michael Kosta: "Brought to you by Gambling. Gambling! The fun way to sell your house!"

We dumb.