drmoose 41 points 16 days ago

Gambling is fundamentally rigged. It's a mathematical tax on society and should be banned all together.

The only sound argument in favor of gambling I ever heard is the prediction market one where gambling inputs generate data on public census. I'm not particularly sold on that but other types of gambling like sports don't event have this leg to stand on.

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timochka -19 points 16 days ago

The sound argument in favour of gambling is simple: it's fun, and people enjoy it.

It's not "rigged", everyone involved understands the game. I hand over money, the house takes some, in return I get an enjoyable experience.

Personally online casino is a bit of a mystery to me, but I enjoy a visit to a real casino once or twice a year; it's fun to sit at the roulette table pretending to be James Bond for an evening. An afternoon at a racecourse is a great day out, and betting on sports makes watching the event more fun. Hell, even Bingo can be fun with the right company.

I am capable of doing all those things without bankrupting myself because I am a perfectly normal person. That a few inadequates are not capable of that is not an argument for banning it for everyone, it's an argument for having a properly regulated industry that protects idiots from themselves while allowing the vast majority to make their own decisions.

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datendefekt 29 points 16 days ago

Gambling is addictive and exploitative. A lot of effort goes into keeping players engaged, exploiting the pleasure response centers of the brain. It’s not just refined folk betting on horses, but gacha games, loot boxes, slot machines, prediction markets. Gritty and sleazy.

If your lucked out with your genes just be happy, and don’t call people with a high risk of addiction inadequate idiots.

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timochka -20 points 16 days ago

"Exploiting the pleasure response centres of the brain" is pseudo-scientific twaddle for "a lot of effort goes into making it fun".

Yes, yes it does. That's a good thing.

And I didn't "luck out" with my genes. They're perfectly in line with the vast majority of people. That some people are cursed with inadequate faculties is a reason they should be protected (through regulation), not a reason for normal people to have their freedom curtailed.

We don't ban movies because some people are blind.

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tachikoma 7 points 15 days ago

Woah ya'll chill. I'm pretty sure it's a widely studied topic that gambling (winning a bunch of money) and cocaine cause the same parts of the brain to fire.

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