Smartphone Gambling Is a Disaster | Hacker News Reader

Smartphone Gambling Is a Disaster

afterbabel.com

36 pointsoutrunner12 comments

Widespread gambling is one of the most visible symptoms of a corrupted society. A society that chooses to make gambling frictionless is a society that has given up on pursuing higher virtue. There are no significant positive externalities and it is functionally just a wealth redistribution to the people who have no problem hurting bystanders to make a bigger problem for itself. Gambling does not just impact individual gamblers. People who gamble their resources away must then either rely on friends, family or the state to get by. We all pay for this directly or indirectly.

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.

Your position appears to present gambling as a monolithic vice, overlooking the significant differences between its many forms and the varying degrees of social harm or benefit they may carry. Would you consider re-evaluating whether all types of gambling should be regarded as equally corrosive, or might some distinctions be warranted?

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.

This is some real parallel world stuff. I don't think I've ever seen an ad for online gambling, nor do I know of anyone who participates in sports betting.

Super weird that apparently 1/3rd of the country does it but exactly 0 people in my social circle talk about it.

Are you in a state where it is legal? Every other radio or TV ad is for gambling where I live.

I don't watch TV or listen to the radio. I pay for YT premium so no ads there. Ad block removes removes most of the rest.

mass gambling definitely a sign of the times. "its over, society is over, i have to leap from a sinking ship before its too late and i become a serf in the neofeudal society forever"

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.

That's unfortunately nothing compared to crypto and stock exchange gambling.

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.

Once you pause and think what gambling is - the disconnect between your actions and results, when you pull a lever and get a random outcome - you'll realise that a good deal of the big tech is about gambling. When you scroll to see random videos chosen by an algorithm - that's gambling. Sometimes you "win" a dopamine spike and see something interesting, but most of the time you see junk and your emotions go negative.

We can say TikTok/Reels/Shorts is a bad thing without trying to shoehorn it into the definition of a existing bad thing.

peel the lid back just a tiny bit and you find that making a bet , ie: a one time negotiated wager beween consenting individuals is universaly illegal, but gambling is "regulated" and legal. personaly, I might take or make a bet, but refuse to gamble, even to the wholesale amazement of someone trying to gift me tickets, and declining,or the other approch'es of trying to get me to pick up some tickets, pick a number,discuss the wonders of disbursing my inevitable winnings, or in some way join in.......it's a fucked up addiction and there are people who are already rich, spending thousands ,every single week, and people with nothing ready to do ANYTHING for a ticket. yucky

Having grown up in the U.K. where sports gambling has always been a thing, I can say that the big difference when compared to the US is the TV advertising.

Limiting the excessive online ads, like we did to the cigarette industry, would probably be a good measure, but it's not a silver bullet either. The ongoing opioid pamdemic in the US is not backed by ads and it thrives.

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.

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