A Boring Dystopia

This is horrible for America.

Matthew Broderick, an actor I used to respect, is now doing commercials for another gambling app, except this one isn't sports or cards or slots, it's games that resemble Candy Crush, etc. with a gambling component built in.

They aren't targeting young men with this one, they are targeting middle-aged women, and not just any middle-aged women, they are targeting those with unfulfilled lives. I've seen three separate ads, and all of them feature middle-aged women who are being ignored or treated badly by their families. They look sad, until Ferris Beuller sidles up and gives them this fun new game to play, and forget their troubles. I've never seen a more blatant attempt to take advantage of a emotionally unstable person than these ads. They are reprehensible.

Add to that, the fact that many household budgets are handled by the Wife/Mom. It's only a matter of time before we start seeing stories of women who lost the family home because they gambled away the family finances.

This is insidious. They are trying to keep as much money out of our hands as possible, and what we do get, they scheme to take it all away. They want us to die penniless.

"So long as they (the Proles) continued to work and breed, their other activities were without importance. Left to themselves, like cattle turned loose upon the plains of Argentina, they had reverted to a style of life that appeared to be natural to them, a sort of ancestral pattern...Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult."

George Orwell, 1984

I've long been pro vice. People should be free to drink, fuck, do drugs, gamble… Strict prohibition doesn't work, can backfire, and often involves a lot of state violence. But there's a difference between a trip to Vegas or a Native American nation here and there, friday night poker with the friends, and a charity Monte Carlo night from time to time vs what we have now.

The current gambling situation in America is like having a vodka faucet in every home that can't be disconnected. It's like being besieged with ads for opiate delivery apps. It makes gambling so easy an addict can't avoid it and it's constantly being shoved down our throats. When gambling was difficult it was reasonable for a person without an addictive personality or family history of addiction to give it a shot, but these days it's like playing with fire while unable to tell if you're coated in gasoline.

I had figured it would, once gambling regulations were bypassed, and no-one recognized that gambling houses make for a moral hazard.

For a long time the US economy has depended on companies exploiting human cognitive biases and addictive mechanisms, from selling booze to bank service fees, to click-wrapped ToS agreements, and yes, to gambling.

There's a reason we regulated it, much the way we regulate advertising so that it's not deceptive.

One beef is the slop of fear and rage that is used to sell far right news media. FOX News even encourages its viewership to abandon all over news sources, like an abusive domestic partner.

If we don't figure out a way out of it, so that confidence ploys and cognitive manipulation for profit are once again regarded as foul play and business in bad faith, then we're just going to be owned by the ownership class. Literally.

But they're not very smart, so they'll not do a thing to address the climate crisis.

Gambling is very common in a depression economy.

There's no hope for this place. May our children forgive us.

The word is 'lose', not 'spend'.

What a deranged headline.

Its comparison is nonsensical.

No sane person gambles for entertaining purposes.

People gamble because they are addicts or in need of money.

This is a very American thing.

Measuring popularity in terms of money spent.

By this metric, spending time with loved ones or going for a short walk has zero popularity.

Americans love the surprising new hobby of shooting up fentanyl, spending more on it than food or housing!

healthy society, good economy

I hate this country more every day

Sign of a real healthy society, that.

Well... you don't get money back from movies, arts, museums, or music, but there is a miniscule chance you could from gambling.

With the economy the way it is, it's more likely people are just desperate. And some are definitely addicted, of course.

Yeah in part that is because it isn't a pastime it's a full blown life crippling addiction for a lot of people.

To make everyone feel even more awful, the "commercials before the movie" will probably start to have "financial engagement opportunities" as the theater houses look to try to stay alive. Pro sports venues will make it more "in your face" and offer discounts on food if you are wagering or better seats or free game tickets or some shit. Books, well most Americans don't read as adults so I think that'll continue it's current state at least. Live theater could wager on what color Hamlet's scene two entrance clothes will be....at the end of the day they'll probably hop on for survival since many of their patrons or past donors are similarly disengaging.

The amount of money spent doesn't really accurately represent how much a past time is "liked", since money (obviously) isn't distributed evenly. A more useful metric would be how much time people spend doing this in comparison to the other options, which is impossible to measure. Also in theory it could be literally 1 or 2 people doing the gambling if they have enough money, while everyone else goes to museums and listens to music.

It's even more true with the other options not being exactly expensive (in particular museums, but the other options are will). Try spending 50k $ gambling: no problem. Try spending 1k $ going to museums: you'll be busy for 2 years or something.

Basically the whole premise is just dumb.

Anything but vote for somebody to tax wealth instead of work.

I don't gamble but at that same time, I can't pirate gambling.

Gambling should be banned. And not just the prediction markets and sports-book, but the lottery too.

It's just theft with extra steps.

Gambling always goes up as the economy gets worse for the average worker.

Bread and games...