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Comment by logicchains | Hacker News Reader

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_gambling_in_the_Uni...

>What's to say sports betting addiction won't become as severe as alcohol now that it's becoming more accessible to the public?

Because it's been accessible for over a hundred years in many countries, from 1861 in the case of Australian horse race betting.

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Under 1% of the population is not the same as under 1% of people exposed, and if we dramatically increase exposure, we probably will proportionally increase problem gambling. Regardless, this is a good point, this isn’t nearly as high as alcoholism or even drug addiction, I suspect.

It's not nearly as available as alcohol or drugs. Of course the percentage will be lower.

Alcohol, sure, but if I wanted to start gambling on sports today, I could, but it would be harder to start abusing prescription drugs or opioids.

Completely misses the point.

You haven't addressed the problem of availability. It's one thing to go to the track physically to bet, vs having the track in your pocket available 24/7 with wagers on literally everything.

Do I think betting addiction will be as bad or prevalent as alcholism? Probably not, yet it's worth considering restricting it for social good. Just like we don't let 13 year olds buy bottles of whiskey.

Right, you could just walk down the street in 1861 and place a bet the way you could walk down the street and buy alcohol.

Wait, no. You couldn't.

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