this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2026
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It might be very country specific. But gambling houses.
They started to proliferate in my country around 10 years ago, and they said they were going to be the end of our youth. I, myself, went to a lot of actions to stop them.
We failed to stop them.
And 10 years after... Nothing happened. There are no mesurable increase in social problems due to the massive increase in gambling I was told it was going to happen. Also the houses themselves are always empty, people gamble mostly online anyway. But they put so much pressure on us to stop the opening of the physical buildings and cause rhe closure of the ones already opened.
I'm in principle against them still. Just because I don't like people making money out of people addicted to gambling. But I'm also kind of mad that I spent to much time, effort, and even got sued for what we tried to do to stop them, just for them not really being as much as a threat as I was told they were. And my efforts would have been much better spent elsewhere.
At least I learned a very valuable lesson.
For the opposite result... Please observe Australia.
Is it possible you were successful?
What was the lesson?
None of the objectives were met.
We tried so hard and still were unable to stop any opening, cause any closure or push the legislative changes we wanted (limiting the amount of gambling houses that could be opened). They just opened as many houses as they liked.
My lesson was to not follow anything blindly even if it was said by people I respect. Always analyze by myself and be skeptical of everything.
Gambling online is a hidden problem. Idk gambling is insane, I'm happy I don't have the money for it.
But do you think it's possible you contributed to a vibe or attitude amongst your peers that these things were not that cool? Or had otherwise indirect influence?
I've picketed businesses before and people completely avoid going anywhere near you. Even after we are gone, there is a bad taste on that business.
If it had been accepted with no opposition, do you think it would have been the same in the end?
You're saying all this with hindsight. Given the information that was (or would have been if you'd looked for it) available at the time, could you really have anticipated the outcome?