Gambling exploits boy math. I know gambling is applied probability designed to make the house a profit. Yet, I continue to think I could be the one to "bankrupt" and "defeat" the casinos by "outsmarting" them - I mean, those idiots let me do it with a few buttons !
I think, literacy and Gamble-ed are nice steps. What could also be is more public signalling of "automatic conservatorships". Fears to adjust the boy math calculations that are apparent like heart attacks or "gives you cancer". I'm going to pull lower cost of living because that would nullify % of population that desires for more money as greater % of population tolerate their income. The second order effect would be that this toleration would be a reflexive authority on culture too as people get to be arrogant at the idea of "hustling for more money for the freedom of it" and arrogance is the key to goodliness.
Though, the existence of it might always lead to a % of the pop that exists as the "deadbeat drunk" of the gambling dimension.
The Singaporean fashion is likely the best option due to the international dark forests represented by dot coms like Stake. Plus, like, you never know, I could be the chosen one and you're actually robbing me of my destiny
Great read and very reflective of the current global situation where instant gratification and dopamine hits are all too common. I do wonder how long it takes before we start to address this problem
I had a Robinhood account, but left it in 2021 because even by then it felt like a mobile gotcha game (i.e. pay to win). I think the next evolution is gaming starting to become more complications. I look at how this year the multistate mega millions lottery game raised their prices from $2 to $5 per base ticket. Lots of complaints, few people actually stopped playing because of the price increases. Watch some of the gambling games become more complicated like extra numbers or develop a digital version with more options not available on paper.
The other thing is how entangled gaming is now nationally. Fan Duel bought out the regional sports network that used to be owned by Fox Sports and then Bally’s. It’s essentially helping Major League Baseball still have a local market presence in a sport that ESPN decided not to broadcast nationally midway through their contract period with MLB. They have or help sponsor sports related podcasts and third party gambling radio stations, like VSIN and SportsGrid, and all sorts of well known podcast networks.
I just wonder at what point does the state governments, who will do anything to raise tax revenue other than raise taxes directly on the wealthy, will start act like a mafia boss and demand a higher cut from these gambling corporations ?
The way Americans regard things that cause adverse outcomes, as well as our current time, is so interesting to me.
Everything we regard as bad is typically something we engage with entirely on our own volition. We live in a prison of our own undisciplined self indulgence.
We regard social media as evil, but no one forces us to use it. In fact, the whole functionality of these algorithms is to just show you what you want to see.
We regard sports betting as bad but we still do it.
We condemn our food supply chain as this unhealthy thing that forces poison down our throats, but it is just as easy to buy wheat bread as it is pizza.
We regard the individual as so inherently - and inexplicably - virtuous that we cannot fathom holding them accountable for their own actions. So we pick our favorite elite to blame.
And because the whole experiment of our country has been to neuter the ability of any non-legal external force to constrain our actions, based on the view that the expression of the individuals Will is inherently virtuous, we literally lack the psychological or social mechanism to not do something that we want to do.
We have undermined culture’s ability to constrain our actions with any moral code, and its supporting norms.
Tell your friends that you will not do something because you regard it as morally wrong and watch how confused they get. A moral code that meaningfully restricts the individuals desire is so unbelievably foreign to the modern American’s mind because the notion that desire even can, let alone should, be restricted is so foreign.
There is no period in human history where humans have suffered this much amid such safety, comfort, and freedom. Our system is fine, our mind is sick.
If gambling is upward projection, a fantasy of future gains perhaps Insurance is downward protection, a fear of future losses. Either side can be monetised. A finance house has an AI scan a population for its personality factors, see what their social media is positioned, understand their state of mind and put forward their proposal. Whatever your emotional needs are, we have the product to buy.
Presumably the data comes from mobile devices that people will wear. They capture your daily interactions, the more you share, the higher payout you get for training data. There is gambling here. If you film someone who helps the AI increase its behavioural prediction model there will be a big bonus. Get out and film the world, you never know who you might see, Everyone is a paparazzi, Everyone can get a bonus.
I think there’s a story to be written about the CFTC as an institution. I did some work with some people from the SEC and CFTC in the early 2000s and then the CFTC was regarded as the toughest regulator with the scariest powers. How did it go from there to becoming the crypto companies’ regulator of choice?
This is why I LOVE sports but totally against the notion of sports betting, the only exception to the rule would be is Esports as its still an evolving industry which overwhelmingly relies on digital infrastructure where raising capital becomes more complex. Sports betting is similar to people taking a long position on lithium with a hope of increase in sales of EVs in the future
The house wins due to a centralized system, in a decentralized system there is much more autonomy but also the risk of exploitation so our actions would reflect what kind of system we craft or mold or shape algorithmacally. If we have to prevent becoming cogs in a machine there has to be a "buffer" state or zone which mediates our actions & reactions to calibrate itself and implement how we interact with our world in the days to come. Cuz
Incredibly important topic. I’m in this demographic but luckily was raised in an environment where I was taught early and often about the irrationality of gambling. It also isn’t in my personality.
Still, I remember a time where gambling was looked at very different and it’s been a bit startling how commonplace it is. They have betting segments IN the programming and in-between games!
It seems to me as though we have had massive amnesia about the dangers of gambling because we had effectively limited the practice for so long.
In general, and you’ve commented on this before, but I feel like it’s just part of a much much larger trend of pursuing profits while hamstringing the future for gains.
Sure, gambling won’t immediately have ill effects and shareholders and governments will profit to varying degrees.
But what do you do when there are hoards of young, impoverished men who have no financial future or prospects?
My only hope is that we see some consequences and snap out of the fugue state.
Speaking as an elder millennial who was in a fraternity in college:
This happened when gambling was illegal, too. But it was a LOT harder to rack up gambling debts when placing a bet meant either calling a local bookie (who reserved the right to simply NOT take your bet if he thought you weren't good for it if you lost) or in the early 2000s, finding an offshore sportsbook (and those weren't really advertised heavily, and you wouldn't see them at all unless you were the kind of guy who read magazines about sports.) And those magazine ads weren't shoving it down your throat.
And if you did do it: it was different. You could still do a parlay, but your local sports radio jock wasn't openly promoting his parlay. There weren't sports gambling Twitter accounts openly encouraging you to bet absurd amounts of money ("oh, you bet $5 at a time? You peasant") and books didn't really offer many prop bets. Unironically, parlays and prop bets get promoted heavily by sportsbooks because these are their biggest money makers and that's why your local sports radio jock isn't just discussing standard stuff like the point spread.
There were certainly people in the 2000s with gambling addictions, but it wasn't nearly as widespread. The way that casinos make money is the equivalent of the alcohol industry planting a liquor store next door to an alcohol treatment center. Now it's ruining a lot more lives than it was when it was just the handful of weirdos who can't stop playing the slot machines that they had to physically drive themselves two hours from home to play.
Great post. This goes on in the US, but also internationally - and some gambling companies are explicitly targeting minors. Look into the world of esports betting and so-called "skins casinos" if you are interested.
I have always been against legalized gambling but I am less sure today whether the government needs to protect tiny slices of the population from their own weaknesses (not judging; all of us have our own). There are always tradeoffs when we regulate.
I'm interested in this book! The rise of sports betting happened during my life, kinda without me paying any attention, and seems like one of the biggest stories of the past ten years. It's totally transformed a major aspect of our society.
There should definitely be some literacy built into curriculums against gambling and financial speculation, and I think it would actually be easy to integrate. Many high schools already have psychology and statistics classes, a unit just needs to be focused on going over fallacies (e.g. law of averages) or natural disposition to risk. I feel like the “whale” distribution of revenue per user is consistent across any chance-based prize/payout scheme. One such scheme not mentioned in the post but I feel fits neatly and maybe is an almost gateway to riskier gambling is packs/pulls/loot boxes in videos games and trading cards. These are “safer” than sports betting or day-trading because there are guaranteed minimal returns (they may be near worthless but have some utility). In the US there is no regulation place on this form of gambling because “there are no ties to real money” which is like the pachinko argument in Japan.
Just take a look at Dimitris Maris profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmaris]. He is a person who through his gambling business, has created enough wealth to fund his foundation, fellow non-profit organisations and CSR initiatives across Greece. However, I can't stop wondering, isn't this a classical Berkshire Hathaway vs KKR case where both promise they will hold onto a family-led company for the long-term, yet one party seems more credible for such a transaction?
Fun reality-as-horror read, Miss Scanlon !
Gambling exploits boy math. I know gambling is applied probability designed to make the house a profit. Yet, I continue to think I could be the one to "bankrupt" and "defeat" the casinos by "outsmarting" them - I mean, those idiots let me do it with a few buttons !
I think, literacy and Gamble-ed are nice steps. What could also be is more public signalling of "automatic conservatorships". Fears to adjust the boy math calculations that are apparent like heart attacks or "gives you cancer". I'm going to pull lower cost of living because that would nullify % of population that desires for more money as greater % of population tolerate their income. The second order effect would be that this toleration would be a reflexive authority on culture too as people get to be arrogant at the idea of "hustling for more money for the freedom of it" and arrogance is the key to goodliness.
Though, the existence of it might always lead to a % of the pop that exists as the "deadbeat drunk" of the gambling dimension.
The Singaporean fashion is likely the best option due to the international dark forests represented by dot coms like Stake. Plus, like, you never know, I could be the chosen one and you're actually robbing me of my destiny
Great read and very reflective of the current global situation where instant gratification and dopamine hits are all too common. I do wonder how long it takes before we start to address this problem
Excellent post. I actually discussed gambling in my recent Substack: https://alangoldhammer593469.substack.com/p/so-you-want-to-get-rich?r=3j56o There is no easy way to getting rich other than being born into money.
Interesting!
“ The house always wins, you know? But what happens when the house is everywhere?
In your pocket, your feed, your brain. And what kind of society are we building if it’s powered by our worst instincts? “
As always, you have amazing insights, thank you!
I had a Robinhood account, but left it in 2021 because even by then it felt like a mobile gotcha game (i.e. pay to win). I think the next evolution is gaming starting to become more complications. I look at how this year the multistate mega millions lottery game raised their prices from $2 to $5 per base ticket. Lots of complaints, few people actually stopped playing because of the price increases. Watch some of the gambling games become more complicated like extra numbers or develop a digital version with more options not available on paper.
The other thing is how entangled gaming is now nationally. Fan Duel bought out the regional sports network that used to be owned by Fox Sports and then Bally’s. It’s essentially helping Major League Baseball still have a local market presence in a sport that ESPN decided not to broadcast nationally midway through their contract period with MLB. They have or help sponsor sports related podcasts and third party gambling radio stations, like VSIN and SportsGrid, and all sorts of well known podcast networks.
I just wonder at what point does the state governments, who will do anything to raise tax revenue other than raise taxes directly on the wealthy, will start act like a mafia boss and demand a higher cut from these gambling corporations ?
The way Americans regard things that cause adverse outcomes, as well as our current time, is so interesting to me.
Everything we regard as bad is typically something we engage with entirely on our own volition. We live in a prison of our own undisciplined self indulgence.
We regard social media as evil, but no one forces us to use it. In fact, the whole functionality of these algorithms is to just show you what you want to see.
We regard sports betting as bad but we still do it.
We condemn our food supply chain as this unhealthy thing that forces poison down our throats, but it is just as easy to buy wheat bread as it is pizza.
We regard the individual as so inherently - and inexplicably - virtuous that we cannot fathom holding them accountable for their own actions. So we pick our favorite elite to blame.
And because the whole experiment of our country has been to neuter the ability of any non-legal external force to constrain our actions, based on the view that the expression of the individuals Will is inherently virtuous, we literally lack the psychological or social mechanism to not do something that we want to do.
We have undermined culture’s ability to constrain our actions with any moral code, and its supporting norms.
Tell your friends that you will not do something because you regard it as morally wrong and watch how confused they get. A moral code that meaningfully restricts the individuals desire is so unbelievably foreign to the modern American’s mind because the notion that desire even can, let alone should, be restricted is so foreign.
There is no period in human history where humans have suffered this much amid such safety, comfort, and freedom. Our system is fine, our mind is sick.
If gambling is upward projection, a fantasy of future gains perhaps Insurance is downward protection, a fear of future losses. Either side can be monetised. A finance house has an AI scan a population for its personality factors, see what their social media is positioned, understand their state of mind and put forward their proposal. Whatever your emotional needs are, we have the product to buy.
Presumably the data comes from mobile devices that people will wear. They capture your daily interactions, the more you share, the higher payout you get for training data. There is gambling here. If you film someone who helps the AI increase its behavioural prediction model there will be a big bonus. Get out and film the world, you never know who you might see, Everyone is a paparazzi, Everyone can get a bonus.
I think there’s a story to be written about the CFTC as an institution. I did some work with some people from the SEC and CFTC in the early 2000s and then the CFTC was regarded as the toughest regulator with the scariest powers. How did it go from there to becoming the crypto companies’ regulator of choice?
This is why I LOVE sports but totally against the notion of sports betting, the only exception to the rule would be is Esports as its still an evolving industry which overwhelmingly relies on digital infrastructure where raising capital becomes more complex. Sports betting is similar to people taking a long position on lithium with a hope of increase in sales of EVs in the future
The house wins due to a centralized system, in a decentralized system there is much more autonomy but also the risk of exploitation so our actions would reflect what kind of system we craft or mold or shape algorithmacally. If we have to prevent becoming cogs in a machine there has to be a "buffer" state or zone which mediates our actions & reactions to calibrate itself and implement how we interact with our world in the days to come. Cuz
Incredibly important topic. I’m in this demographic but luckily was raised in an environment where I was taught early and often about the irrationality of gambling. It also isn’t in my personality.
Still, I remember a time where gambling was looked at very different and it’s been a bit startling how commonplace it is. They have betting segments IN the programming and in-between games!
It seems to me as though we have had massive amnesia about the dangers of gambling because we had effectively limited the practice for so long.
In general, and you’ve commented on this before, but I feel like it’s just part of a much much larger trend of pursuing profits while hamstringing the future for gains.
Sure, gambling won’t immediately have ill effects and shareholders and governments will profit to varying degrees.
But what do you do when there are hoards of young, impoverished men who have no financial future or prospects?
My only hope is that we see some consequences and snap out of the fugue state.
Amazing writing as always Kyla.
Speaking as an elder millennial who was in a fraternity in college:
This happened when gambling was illegal, too. But it was a LOT harder to rack up gambling debts when placing a bet meant either calling a local bookie (who reserved the right to simply NOT take your bet if he thought you weren't good for it if you lost) or in the early 2000s, finding an offshore sportsbook (and those weren't really advertised heavily, and you wouldn't see them at all unless you were the kind of guy who read magazines about sports.) And those magazine ads weren't shoving it down your throat.
And if you did do it: it was different. You could still do a parlay, but your local sports radio jock wasn't openly promoting his parlay. There weren't sports gambling Twitter accounts openly encouraging you to bet absurd amounts of money ("oh, you bet $5 at a time? You peasant") and books didn't really offer many prop bets. Unironically, parlays and prop bets get promoted heavily by sportsbooks because these are their biggest money makers and that's why your local sports radio jock isn't just discussing standard stuff like the point spread.
There were certainly people in the 2000s with gambling addictions, but it wasn't nearly as widespread. The way that casinos make money is the equivalent of the alcohol industry planting a liquor store next door to an alcohol treatment center. Now it's ruining a lot more lives than it was when it was just the handful of weirdos who can't stop playing the slot machines that they had to physically drive themselves two hours from home to play.
Great post. This goes on in the US, but also internationally - and some gambling companies are explicitly targeting minors. Look into the world of esports betting and so-called "skins casinos" if you are interested.
I have always been against legalized gambling but I am less sure today whether the government needs to protect tiny slices of the population from their own weaknesses (not judging; all of us have our own). There are always tradeoffs when we regulate.
I'm interested in this book! The rise of sports betting happened during my life, kinda without me paying any attention, and seems like one of the biggest stories of the past ten years. It's totally transformed a major aspect of our society.
There should definitely be some literacy built into curriculums against gambling and financial speculation, and I think it would actually be easy to integrate. Many high schools already have psychology and statistics classes, a unit just needs to be focused on going over fallacies (e.g. law of averages) or natural disposition to risk. I feel like the “whale” distribution of revenue per user is consistent across any chance-based prize/payout scheme. One such scheme not mentioned in the post but I feel fits neatly and maybe is an almost gateway to riskier gambling is packs/pulls/loot boxes in videos games and trading cards. These are “safer” than sports betting or day-trading because there are guaranteed minimal returns (they may be near worthless but have some utility). In the US there is no regulation place on this form of gambling because “there are no ties to real money” which is like the pachinko argument in Japan.
Just take a look at Dimitris Maris profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmaris]. He is a person who through his gambling business, has created enough wealth to fund his foundation, fellow non-profit organisations and CSR initiatives across Greece. However, I can't stop wondering, isn't this a classical Berkshire Hathaway vs KKR case where both promise they will hold onto a family-led company for the long-term, yet one party seems more credible for such a transaction?