The Online Sports Gambling Experiment Has Failed

[usonian]

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tHiB8jLocbPLagYDZ/the-online-sports-gambling-experiment-has-failed

The Short Answer

Joe Weisenthal: Why is it that sports gambling, specifically, has elicited a lot of criticism from people that would otherwise have more laissez faire sympathies?


This full post is the long answer. The short answer is that it is clear from studies and from what we see with our eyes that ubiquitous sports gambling on mobile phones, and media aggressively pushing wagering, is mostly predation on people who suffer from addictive behaviors. That predation, due to the costs of customer acquisition and retention and the regulations involved, involves pushing upon them terrible products offered at terrible prices, pushed throughout the sports ecosystem and via smartphones onto highly vulnerable people. This is not a minor issue. This is so bad that you can pick up the impacts in overall economic distress data. The price, on so many levels, is too damn high.

They have the receipts.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. I'm amazed at the integration of gambling into all aspects of sports. Smartphones make placing bets easy.

There will be a day of reckoning for many people soon.

[mahina]

2. Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and the big short has a terrific podcast called against the rules, and this whole sea

Because it's illegal where I live and I don't go to the continent, I really had no idea.

[True Dough]

4. Thanks.

I'm a frequent podcast listener and on the lookout for interesting ones worth a listen. Just followed Against the Rules. Will give it a shot.

[mahina]

5. You are in for a treat

I envy you listening to the first seasons anew.

His book The Fifth Risk is my favorite of his. Itʻs on audio books.

What have you liked best, podcast-wise?

Thanks, cheers.

[True Dough]

6. I listen to quite a few sports podcasts

My "current affairs" roster includes The Daily, Post Reports, Stay Tuned With Preet, 60 Minutes (when I don't watch it on TV), Fareed Zakaria GPS and, although I sometimes disagree with his takes, I usually listen to Real Time with Bill Maher (at least when he has guests that I can tolerate -- if he has any "gaslighters" on then I skip it).

And I enjoy The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and his crew.

[mahina]

7. Thank you.

Against The Rules has several seasons related to sports. Cheers!

[Xavier Breath]

8. I never have and likely never will place any online wager.

But I do find the increased chatter about it annoying. When I listen to local sports talk I am bombarded with discussions about and ads for online gambling. Each show has to have an interview with some sleaze who is supposedly going to make me rich with his inside dope about what will really go down in that Kentucky/Syracuse game. I hate the legitimacy that it gives that industry, and I can see why so many with an addiction problem are hooked in.

A newspaper columnist some years ago asked: "When did 'gambling' lose the 'bl?' They're not fooling anybody."

[Dulcinea]

9. Same here.

But there's so much money tied up in online gambling that the sports leagues want a piece of the action. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.