Did Apple Just Make a Gambling App? | Hacker News Reader

Did Apple Just Make a Gambling App?

theatlantic.com

12 pointsloughnane10 comments

Would the slug title be better (a little less clickbait - within Guidelines, but it's a bit of a value call)

"Apple's Sports Betting App"

Of course, the answer is "no".

I think it's pretty nasty (and off-brand) that Apple included gambling odds in the Sports app.

Gambling is experiencing spikes in addiction right now, no idea why Apple of all companies decided to increase exposure to that underbelly of sports.

Few companies have the reach and influence of Apple, I don't think the gambling industry could have paid enough money to get the kind of exposure this gives them to millions of people for no good reason.

I’ve never placed a bet on a game but I enjoy knowing the odds because it gives me some idea of who’s expected to win and by how much.

Don’t try to make gambling addition apples problem.

> Whether we let you tap on it to go to DraftKings or not … we’ll decide that later, we just decided right now we just want to show the odds and see,” Cue said. “We’re not against [betting].”

Apple Senior VP on their new partnership with DraftKings to enable this feature. They didn't add this to show you who's likely to win, they added this to enable bettors.

Don't go out of your way to make this not Apple's responsibility: it's their app and their ecosystem. They're enabling the sports betting ecosystem in more ways than this one app.

They even added a toggle to remove it so it's clear they understand the implications of showing betting odds to a certain subset of users, absolutely baffling behavior from them.

As you pointed out they don’t provide a link to a well know betting site and they give users the option to hide the odds. What more do you want?

Should Apple maps not allow you to route to a liquor store? Is the ability to do so enabling alcoholics? It is their ecosystem and they are thus enabling a very destructive addiction.

> What more do you want?

Don't partner with a gambling site for your official Sports app, put their odds in your app, and refer to it as putting out feelers for a larger integration with them.

Not clear enough, or you find that too complex?

(And an aside, but why must people jump to putting words in your mouth the moment they run out of valid points?)

Please is there a saved you a click for click bait YC article submissions?

Saved You A Click: The Apple Sports app primarily focuses on displaying scores and betting odds, lacking features like news, highlights, and schedules, leading to speculation that it might be transitioning into a betting app.

It's not uncommon for the sports books to have faster data then any TV broadcast. You almost can't watch the game and the odds are the same time as it's almost always a play or two ahead.

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