Gambling mechanics have also found their way into toys aimed at toddlers. Like mystery eggs with different plush toys inside, so you don’t know what you get and they are of course advertised with...
Gambling mechanics have also found their way into toys aimed at toddlers. Like mystery eggs with different plush toys inside, so you don’t know what you get and they are of course advertised with a “collect them all” goal. I hate those with a passion and try to steer my kids away from those things, but it is nuts how normalized gambling like mechanics have become so normalized for all groups in recent years.
I remember being snarkily quoted "the slippery slope fallacy" when I was saying this was going to happen over a decade ago. It's honestly really depressing how quickly society has just accepted...
I remember being snarkily quoted "the slippery slope fallacy" when I was saying this was going to happen over a decade ago. It's honestly really depressing how quickly society has just accepted these companies stealing billions of dollars a year from people by manipulating them as much as humanly possible. It's seeped into nearly every aspect of our lives; I've even seen this kind of bullshit in my fucking health insurance app.
They had this stupid daily login lootbox bullshit where you could get better perks or something by logging in every day and completing some quizzes about your daily activity (if you were working...
They had this stupid daily login lootbox bullshit where you could get better perks or something by logging in every day and completing some quizzes about your daily activity (if you were working out, what you were eating, etc) and then when you finished it a wheel would spin and give you points for rewards. Most of them were meaningless stuff but they had things like an Apple watch on there.
It was designed to siphon data from its userbase so they can weaponize it against them to make more money. Nothing a health insurance company in the US does is ever designed to help people.
It was designed to siphon data from its userbase so they can weaponize it against them to make more money. Nothing a health insurance company in the US does is ever designed to help people.
I pretty much agree with the goals here, but question the practicality of their suggested path. The political capital needed to ban online casino games is immense, and multiply that by 50 for each...
I pretty much agree with the goals here, but question the practicality of their suggested path.
To that end, states should ban the most dangerous form of online gambling: online casino games. They should also take action against unlicensed or semi-legal operators and much more aggressively fine companies that fail to comply with regulations. And states should set up guardrails around sports betting. Ad restrictions — which have become common in other countries — could slow the normalization of gambling. States that have not yet legalized online gambling should carefully weigh the trade-offs.
The political capital needed to ban online casino games is immense, and multiply that by 50 for each state.
It would seem a more efficient route in the same direction, if not the same end, is to pull out the age old call of "think of the children" and force know your customer "KYC" laws similar to financial institutions onto betting platforms. That seems like something politicians can rally behind, would dramatically curtail access by minors, and would create a few additional friction points that could reduce adult usage slightly as an unspoken side benefit. It would still be an uphill climb, but it would have much more support from the voting public and politicians than outright bans. And that is important to overcome lobbying efforts.
After that, the attempts at creating and enforcing regulation should focus on curtailing fraud, protecting customer deposits, cracking down on fraudsters. What I wouldn't try at this time is regulation curtailing ads or features, unless it is in the vein of no ads designed to be targeted at children, like the tobacco ad restrictions.
I think that would be an easier playbook than what they envision. Just like we didn't ban cigarettes, yet usage dropped, I see a path to curtail online gambling through similar regulation.
This is what makes this so pervasive; the only other parallel I can think of where you're almost forced to indulge in your addiction every day like that is food. You are "exposed" to sugar when...
Imagine being a gambling addict and always having a slot machine in your pocket except you also need that slot machine to stay in touch with friends/family, to get jobs and contact coworkers, for banking, for navigation.
This is what makes this so pervasive; the only other parallel I can think of where you're almost forced to indulge in your addiction every day like that is food. You are "exposed" to sugar when consuming food in a controlled manner the same way you're exposed to gambling, and we've recognised the dangers of excessive sugar in our diets, implementing measures to counter that as much as we could.
Meanwhile, in many countries, we saw the opposite - a liberalisation of gambling despite all scientific evidence pointing that online gambling is far more destructive than in-person gambling. Even with all the taxes and restrictions, gambling is very much a net negative for society and the state.
Although I'm not in favour of outright prohibition, we need to acknowledge that we need hard limits. We banned tobacco advertising, but why do we have gambling ads everywhere? I can't watch any sports without gambling ads, I can't stop seeing references to gambling companies in sports uniforms.
Notably, about 19% of those ages 18 to 24 were at high risk for problem gambling
If 19% of our young population was comprised of unrepentant alcoholics, we'd be on crisis mode. Yet, we have nearly 1/5th of a population still in their formative years essentially moulding their brains to throw away their money at every waking opportunity.
Gambling mechanics have also found their way into toys aimed at toddlers. Like mystery eggs with different plush toys inside, so you don’t know what you get and they are of course advertised with a “collect them all” goal. I hate those with a passion and try to steer my kids away from those things, but it is nuts how normalized gambling like mechanics have become so normalized for all groups in recent years.
Not much unlike the Pokémon card packs I got as a child ~25 years ago.
I remember being snarkily quoted "the slippery slope fallacy" when I was saying this was going to happen over a decade ago. It's honestly really depressing how quickly society has just accepted these companies stealing billions of dollars a year from people by manipulating them as much as humanly possible. It's seeped into nearly every aspect of our lives; I've even seen this kind of bullshit in my fucking health insurance app.
What dark patterns have you seen in your health insurance app?
They had this stupid daily login lootbox bullshit where you could get better perks or something by logging in every day and completing some quizzes about your daily activity (if you were working out, what you were eating, etc) and then when you finished it a wheel would spin and give you points for rewards. Most of them were meaningless stuff but they had things like an Apple watch on there.
Those do sound like dark patterns, but it sounds like they were designed to encourage good health?
It was designed to siphon data from its userbase so they can weaponize it against them to make more money. Nothing a health insurance company in the US does is ever designed to help people.
I'm not sure. Many health insurance programs are meant to make customers healthier. Healthier customers use health insurance less often.
I pretty much agree with the goals here, but question the practicality of their suggested path.
The political capital needed to ban online casino games is immense, and multiply that by 50 for each state.
It would seem a more efficient route in the same direction, if not the same end, is to pull out the age old call of "think of the children" and force know your customer "KYC" laws similar to financial institutions onto betting platforms. That seems like something politicians can rally behind, would dramatically curtail access by minors, and would create a few additional friction points that could reduce adult usage slightly as an unspoken side benefit. It would still be an uphill climb, but it would have much more support from the voting public and politicians than outright bans. And that is important to overcome lobbying efforts.
After that, the attempts at creating and enforcing regulation should focus on curtailing fraud, protecting customer deposits, cracking down on fraudsters. What I wouldn't try at this time is regulation curtailing ads or features, unless it is in the vein of no ads designed to be targeted at children, like the tobacco ad restrictions.
I think that would be an easier playbook than what they envision. Just like we didn't ban cigarettes, yet usage dropped, I see a path to curtail online gambling through similar regulation.
This is what makes this so pervasive; the only other parallel I can think of where you're almost forced to indulge in your addiction every day like that is food. You are "exposed" to sugar when consuming food in a controlled manner the same way you're exposed to gambling, and we've recognised the dangers of excessive sugar in our diets, implementing measures to counter that as much as we could.
Meanwhile, in many countries, we saw the opposite - a liberalisation of gambling despite all scientific evidence pointing that online gambling is far more destructive than in-person gambling. Even with all the taxes and restrictions, gambling is very much a net negative for society and the state.
Although I'm not in favour of outright prohibition, we need to acknowledge that we need hard limits. We banned tobacco advertising, but why do we have gambling ads everywhere? I can't watch any sports without gambling ads, I can't stop seeing references to gambling companies in sports uniforms.
If 19% of our young population was comprised of unrepentant alcoholics, we'd be on crisis mode. Yet, we have nearly 1/5th of a population still in their formative years essentially moulding their brains to throw away their money at every waking opportunity.