Well, I have now listened and holy moly, what a horrible thing that 38 states have done for some revenue. Of course, pretty much all internet companies are doing the same addiction model - this one just bankrupts some people (mostly men). Instagram leads to girls doing "work" on their body to be more feminine or pretty. TikTok leads to girls doing work on their body to be more masculine. It's all about manipulation to make a whole lot of money. Capitalism leads to really sick things. (Not that I have a clue of what to do about it.)
The time from decision to outcome is part of the reason that gambling is such a psychological rush. The same reason smoking is so addictive, or the reason that people with drug addictions use by IV. The operant conditioning is much stronger when the behavior immediately causes the reward. And of course in online gambling, you can get immediate feedback.
Having said that, the idea that someone is making money off of addiction is probably true of lots of industries, even beyond the obvious ones. If leveraging someone's psychological weaknesses to make money off of them is somehow unethical, we're going to need to ban a lot more than gambling.
I appreciate hearing about this topic, especially since I know next to nothing about it. I had no idea, for example, that one could actually place bets, strike-by-strike, on a baseball game, or similar absurdities that he described.
However, he was not easy to listen to, often not staying on topic or not directly answering the question. I thought he was too invested in his entire view of gambling addiction, though perhaps if I knew more about it, I would be too.
In the tiny bit of research I did after listening, I found that the gambling governing bodies often make a distinction between gambling on "games of chance" versus "games of skill". I could see betting on the outcome of a sports contest having some skill involved, but betting on strike-by-strike is about as close as a game of chance as you could get.
A search at reason.com for "sports gambling" turned up a few links. The most interesting to me was Josh Blackman at The Volokh Conspiracy, from 2/16/2023: "What Was the Most Consequential Supreme Court Decision Over the Past Five Years?" and he is referencing the 2018 decision talked about in this podcast. Josh Blackman might be a good follow up guest for this topic. Thank you, I really had no idea how big sports gambling is.
Interesting topic. My husband and I listened while cooking this morning. In Florida, the only legal sports betting is through the Hard Rock Casino app. My Gen Z kids don’t bet on sports through Hard Rock, but they do have fantasy football leagues (run and organized independently among friends). Occasionally, they will use DraftKings for a daily fantasy tournament—like today—because they got a coupon and haven’t played on DraftKings all year. It’s permissible to use FanDuel or DraftKings for daily fantasy lineups, but not for sports betting in Florida.
Overall, I think these sites/apps and gambling are terrible for society. Some argue that gambling is around anyway and states may as well profit and it's less harmful to book through legal sites because it requires posting money people actually have. I am a prude and a puritan though, and my knee-jerk response is to dislike anything (like legalizing marijuana) that might harm kids and society, even if there are valid merits to legalizing it.
Gambling addiction -- there is a rush to win, and there is also a rush or dopamine hit when people lose. I think some gamblers actually enjoy losing. Or, they like risk and uncertainty and being on a rollercoaster of emotions. I hardly know a thing behind the psychology of gambling addiction but I think it's another form of self-sabotage -- it feels familiar to lose.
I haven't listened to this yet but I love the places you go in your podcast. As you know, a true fan.
Well, I have now listened and holy moly, what a horrible thing that 38 states have done for some revenue. Of course, pretty much all internet companies are doing the same addiction model - this one just bankrupts some people (mostly men). Instagram leads to girls doing "work" on their body to be more feminine or pretty. TikTok leads to girls doing work on their body to be more masculine. It's all about manipulation to make a whole lot of money. Capitalism leads to really sick things. (Not that I have a clue of what to do about it.)
The time from decision to outcome is part of the reason that gambling is such a psychological rush. The same reason smoking is so addictive, or the reason that people with drug addictions use by IV. The operant conditioning is much stronger when the behavior immediately causes the reward. And of course in online gambling, you can get immediate feedback.
Having said that, the idea that someone is making money off of addiction is probably true of lots of industries, even beyond the obvious ones. If leveraging someone's psychological weaknesses to make money off of them is somehow unethical, we're going to need to ban a lot more than gambling.
I appreciate hearing about this topic, especially since I know next to nothing about it. I had no idea, for example, that one could actually place bets, strike-by-strike, on a baseball game, or similar absurdities that he described.
However, he was not easy to listen to, often not staying on topic or not directly answering the question. I thought he was too invested in his entire view of gambling addiction, though perhaps if I knew more about it, I would be too.
In the tiny bit of research I did after listening, I found that the gambling governing bodies often make a distinction between gambling on "games of chance" versus "games of skill". I could see betting on the outcome of a sports contest having some skill involved, but betting on strike-by-strike is about as close as a game of chance as you could get.
A search at reason.com for "sports gambling" turned up a few links. The most interesting to me was Josh Blackman at The Volokh Conspiracy, from 2/16/2023: "What Was the Most Consequential Supreme Court Decision Over the Past Five Years?" and he is referencing the 2018 decision talked about in this podcast. Josh Blackman might be a good follow up guest for this topic. Thank you, I really had no idea how big sports gambling is.
https://reason.com/volokh/2023/02/16/what-was-the-most-consequential-supreme-court-decision-over-the-past-five-years/
Interesting topic. My husband and I listened while cooking this morning. In Florida, the only legal sports betting is through the Hard Rock Casino app. My Gen Z kids don’t bet on sports through Hard Rock, but they do have fantasy football leagues (run and organized independently among friends). Occasionally, they will use DraftKings for a daily fantasy tournament—like today—because they got a coupon and haven’t played on DraftKings all year. It’s permissible to use FanDuel or DraftKings for daily fantasy lineups, but not for sports betting in Florida.
Overall, I think these sites/apps and gambling are terrible for society. Some argue that gambling is around anyway and states may as well profit and it's less harmful to book through legal sites because it requires posting money people actually have. I am a prude and a puritan though, and my knee-jerk response is to dislike anything (like legalizing marijuana) that might harm kids and society, even if there are valid merits to legalizing it.
Gambling addiction -- there is a rush to win, and there is also a rush or dopamine hit when people lose. I think some gamblers actually enjoy losing. Or, they like risk and uncertainty and being on a rollercoaster of emotions. I hardly know a thing behind the psychology of gambling addiction but I think it's another form of self-sabotage -- it feels familiar to lose.