Hacker News Reader

Comment by abcde666777 | Hacker News Reader

I've always found the marketing around gambling (and most things really) completely disgusting. As a society I think we're far too tolerant of these things.

A lot of the ads basically go along the lines of: 'you could win big and have a great time, awesome! (disclaimer: will probably ruin your life)'.

It should be like it is with smoking - photos of lung cancer patients on the package. People will still do it of course but at least it's not falsely advertised.

So the gambling ads should be things like, that moment where your wife finds out you've drained the family's savings and the house is about to be re-possessed. Yeah.

View on HN

Just ban it. The only defense for our lives being flooded with advertising is that it helps markets be more efficient.

But the most efficient gambling provider is the one that extracts the most money from its customers. Helping gambling companies be successful is a net loss to society.

By that argument the companies that are 'most efficient' are the ones that extract the most money. Efficiency is a property of both sides of the equation, and by that light I would say the most efficient gambling provider is the one that charges the least money for the most excitement about the result (which is the positive outcome that gamblers are purchasing, essentially). But to me the ill effects on those who are addicted is enough that the advertising should just be banned anyway.

south park alcohol commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Cg8klY9JI

I love Matt and Trey XD

And gambling, same as prediction markets, has literally no positive social outcome.

Okay, but have you considered that thanks to Polymarket, society was able to intuit within mere minutes that Khamenei was most likely dead when the odds jumped to 99%?

No more need to rely on MSM or governments, it's all just math and data (odds jumped entirely based on Reuters newswire update posting a quote from an unnamed Israeli source).

And as a bonus, people lost a bunch of money "winning" that trade!

I think an honest gambling ad would include wins and losses at an appropriate ratio and emphasize the excitement as opposed to the payout. I do think the majority of people engaging in gambling engage with it in that way (even if I don't understanding it), and that the people it effects so extremely negatively are a smaller minority. But, a) that smaller minority still likely makes up a very large fraction of these companies income stream, and b) the harm is large enough that banning the advertising is still I think the better option, anyhow.

At this point I question whether they should even be allowed to advertise.

No. A lot of the Australian ads play on the "this gimmick feature means if you lose you win!"

What it aleays means is you still win or lose a bet they just shuffled the permutations so that you win and lose in different outcomes.

But emotiionally they sell it as them giving you a chance. Pretty manipulative.

Examples would be like "money back if your horse comes second" or "bet on horse coming 3rd 4th or 5th" or "if your team is up at half time we count it as a win".

They are just offering a different wager!

It shouldn't even be allowed to exist, there are literally zero positive outcomes for anyone. On aggregate, people just lose money. And no, it's not entertainment.

And for the operator, they make money by... doing nothing? That's a huge red flag. Usually if that's the case, then the business is not legitimate.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com