cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/49992343
Gambling becomes America’s favorite pastime as Americans spend more on sports bets than movies, arts, museums, and music combined
https://fortune.com/2026/07/26/gambling-america-pastime-spend-sports-bets-movies-arts-museums-music/
17 Comments
T00l_shed@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 30d
Nothing to do with all those gambling ads though. Right?
Jhex@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 30d
makes sense, Gambling has alasy been the passtime of the desperate and/or uneducated
village604@adultswim.fan · 1 pts · 29d
Gambling can be fun if you go into it expecting to lose a set amount of money. I always quit when I lose my budget, or I rebound enough from a loss to pay for parking.
Taldan@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 29d
Which is healthy gambling, unfortunately these platforms spent billions learning how to manipulate users into continuing to bet
Long-term, this is going to cost society a whole lot
jaschen306@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 29d
I mean, I buy stocks. Isn't that almost the same gamble?
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 28d
Day trading is gambling.
Long term stock market investing is investing.
FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 28d
Buying stocks is investing, not gambling
jaschen306@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 28d
Oh, I guess buying stocks is investing. Buying options is gambling. Buying crypto is also gambling.
FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 28d
Yeah,
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 28d
Gambling is one helluva drug
Doubleohdonut@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 29d
No, no, it's legally prediction markets, not gambling, can't you tell the difference? /s
Taldan@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 29d
There are both. Each actually comes from separate legal areas. Prediction markets were a loophole, and gambling was a judicial precedent
Bbbbbbbbbbb@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 30d
We were doing it anyway? Fantasy sports leagues played for money, betting money vs your friends when your teams played, betting against coworkers, going to Vegas, horse races? Its only recently that we can now do it from our pocket.
Sure, people have gambling problems, but thats an addiction issue, not a moral one.
Taldan@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 29d
Addiction will become more prevalent because it's in your pocket
Addiction will become far more prevalent because these companies are soending billions studying how users behave to maximize the amount of gambling each user does, learning how best to lure them back after a user stops gambling
I don't have a problem with gambling being legal, but doing it like this will be an absolute disaster. At a minimum, they need the cigarette treatment -- no advertising, limits on how/when it can be done
Users shouldn't be getting push notifications to bet on fucking ping pong at 2am because the algorithm determines that was the best way to turn a gambling problem into a full blown addiction
frongt@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 29d
Yeah, and that convenience has made a huge difference.
Taldan@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 29d
That convenience is part of the problem, other part is the billions spent studying users, and the level of data collection
Our phones are able to tell us we're pregnant before we even know, and that's without even trying. It terrifies menwhat they're able to do using all that data, after billions have spent learning tibmanipulate users into gambling more
dregan@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 30d
Also, Wall Street.