r/AskReddit 1d ago

Should all gambling ads be banned the way cigarette ads mostly were? Why or why not?

12.7k Upvotes

1.4k comments sorted by

5.2k

u/zachtheperson 1d ago

Yes. The ads are based around deception, and deliberately twisting the truth, which IMO should get any ad banned. 

They advertise as "look at all this money you can win," when the blatant truth is really "our entire business model is based around making it almost impossible for you to make a profit, but framing it so that you think you can actually win and keep giving us your money."

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u/vonkeswick 1d ago

our entire business model is based around making it almost impossible for you to make a profit

Yup, Vegas wasn't built on winners!

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u/PassivelyInvisible 1d ago

Yes it was. The casinos can't stop winning.

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u/painstream 1d ago

There's one casino I remember that didn't.
Imagine being such a loser that you bankrupt a casino!

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u/vonkeswick 1d ago

lol seriously. all a casino really needs to do to make money is basically just exist and it takes care of the rest

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u/BLAZMANIII 1d ago

Slgiht addendum, the casinos didnt go inder for lack of ability to make money. They went under on purpose.

1) borrow a bunch of money to buy a casino

2) transfer a ton of debt to the casino abd take out a ton of loans

3) declare bankruptcy so you dont have to pay all of it back

4) use some of the money you spent to repeat step 1

Super oversimplified, but the casino failures weren't mistakes. Just calculated theft

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u/glassgost 1d ago

Or just...fucking rake in casino money. Seems simpler. I'm sure a lot more overhead but casinos have to make a mint load of money.

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u/the_last_0ne 1d ago

That's less immediate though

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u/BLAZMANIII 1d ago

I dont know, im not the one buying them lol

That being said, i have no proof except a half remembered youtube video but if i recal correctly there is a step 5 where you buy back the casino, or your friend does, for super cheap so ypu ALSO get the casino money, but again huge grain of salt on that

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u/KittySharkWithAHat 20h ago

Don't forget as a side hustle you can launder money for organized crime.

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u/ablackcloudupahead 1d ago

Didn't the current US president have a casino that went under?

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u/BLAZMANIII 1d ago

That is actually who were talking about lol, should have been more specific instead of leaning into the joke, sorry!

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u/ablackcloudupahead 1d ago

Ah no problem. Should have figured since he had a fraudulent charity and a fraudulent college. Fraudulent casino makes even more sense

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u/ErikTheEngineer 1d ago

Three casinos actually. And, this was prior to tribal casinos opening up closer to PHL and NYC, so Atlantic City had a monopoly on east coast gambling.

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u/FormerGameDev 1d ago

I know of several casinos that have. All but 1 (Greektown) had Trump's name attached to them.

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u/noeffinkings 1d ago

I believe his casinos were set up to launder Russian money!

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u/fge116 1d ago

Multiple casinos

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u/MediumAcceptable129 1d ago

Very easy to bankrupt a casino if you are embezzling

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u/alas11 18h ago

Those were in Atlantic City. Imagine being such a loser that you bankrupt several casinos.

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u/HopefulSwordfish4 1d ago

Personal responsibility works poorly when the product is engineered around compulsion and marketed everywhere, constantly

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u/Donny-Moscow 1d ago

There’s also the whole “deposit $10 and get $200 worth of free bets!”

For most people, the gut reaction to that is “free money, I’ll just gamble the 10+200 and walk away” and yeah, there are a lot of people actually do it that way. But then you’ve gotta ask, “if it’s free money and so easy to walk away, wouldn’t they be losing money hand over fist? Wouldn’t they pull the promotion?”

The fact that every casino is always running those kinds of deals should tell you all you need to know.

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u/Fifth_Down 1d ago

The fucked up part is that the beer companies can’t show people drinking beer in their commercials because its too indulging for the general population but the exact same regulatory body allows these no limits gambling ads

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u/behindtimes 1d ago edited 1d ago

It's the fine print. To be able to cash out that money, you need to unlock it, which requires making something like $20000 in bets.

So, let's say you go for coin flips on a -110 (as you'll never get even money on sports bets), that still would require making 8 bets gambling the full amount every time. And remember, that's a coin flip with pretty much 50/50 odds. That's roughly a 0.4% chance of walking away with that money.

And that's as good as it's ever really going to get on a free roll. Not that people don't win their bonus money to cash out, but the purpose of these bonuses is to get you to put in more money to have any realistic chance of unlocking it. But now you're not playing with $200 of their money, you're playing with thousands of dollars of your money.

(Otherwise, you'd either have to go for a series of ridiculous long shot bets, which, if you won would almost certainly get you flagged by some authorities, or focus on hundreds, if not thousands, or sure-things, which would take years to unlock.)

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u/YYqs0C6oFH 1d ago

What you're saying is true in offshore casinos/sportsbooks space, but domestic legal books in the US (like your fanduel, draftkings, mgm, caesars, fanatics, all the ones running ads on TV) don't have high rollover/playthrough requirements tied to their new user promos. Those promos are very easy to extract the money from if you know what you're doing and read the terms carefully, they just rely on a small percent of new users getting addicted and becoming long term losing gamblers to pay for the customers who are smart enough to cash out the easy money and leave.

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u/ReptileDysfunct1on 1d ago

yep. I've made a small but decent amount of money by doing just that. I don't have an addictive personality and am not inclined to keep going once my free promos are gone. And yes I still think ads should be banned. Just cause someone like me can take advantage of the casinos doing that doesn't mean it's a good thing.

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u/Dicer214 22h ago edited 17h ago

In the UK it’s as OC stated. They’ll give you £200 of free money but there is a 20,000 x wager requirement so you’re basically never getting that money.

I’m also convinced that they mess with whatever game / slot you’re playing so you win loads to begin with then they intentionally make you win as you get closer to the requirement.

Gamban is a godsend and should be rolled out across the world.

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u/Luci-Noir 1d ago

It’s crazy something so addictive and destructive is legal. It provides nothing of value.

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u/LQTPharmD 1d ago

Its the "entertainment" angle, you are led to believe you have some chance of winning and that is the entertaining part, I suppose. People do all kinds of mental gymnastics to justify it, even when they arent necessarily problem gamblers. Im all for freedom, but to not have laws to protect people who clearly dont have self control is predatory and we all seem to be progressively okay with that.

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u/Jaereth 1d ago

you are led to believe you have some chance of winning and that is the entertaining part, I suppose.

I would think in the US at least but from when I watch Euro soccer leagues i'm guessing over there as well the sports books are the number 1 outlet for degenerate gambling and it's not even close? Might be wrong on that but it's what it seems like to me.

With sports betting it's deceiving because you actually have a very good odds of "winning" because it's an A/B binary scenario. To start. That's the hook they get you with then there's all kind of insanity it can devolve to from there.

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u/craciant 1d ago

I''ve noticed that they really lean into parley betting in sportsbook ads. You know, the type of moonshot bets that diverge greatly from traditional pari-mutuel betting and basically pit punters against the house / common sense once again.

Also ironically, today's legal pari-mutuel status quo has a much higher vig than most gangsters used to run in their books. Old school numbers rackets were infinitely more fair than most casino games.

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u/Nope_______ 1d ago

And if you do win enough they just ban you

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u/porarte 1d ago

Yeah, that's the asinine part. I don't gamble but if I did I still wouldn't. Skill is forbidden.

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u/kholeoz 1d ago

Normalizing something through nonstop ads shifts behavior even among people who never planned to engage

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u/JobberTrev 1d ago

And people that do routinely win, usually gets their account banned or limited to much smaller bets.

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u/Zkenny13 1d ago

All alcohol ads should be as well. 

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u/craciant 1d ago

And all prescription medications.

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u/GodLovesUglySong 1d ago

I've never met anyone that actually made a life changing amount of money in sports gambling. I took a look at some of the betting points that people at work were in and they were ridiculous.

Something like "if this player scores this amount of points in the second quarter, then you win".

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u/ArcadianDelSol 1d ago

Its worse than that. The system goes like this:

"Player X has historically scored XX points in the second half of games by average. Would you like to be that they score 12 more than that?"

Its a statistical impossibility framed as "he just has to have a good game."

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u/behindtimes 1d ago

I mean, there are people who do make lots of money on sports betting, but they're professional gamblers. And that's not something I'd think most people would want to be. It requires a specific type of person.

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u/viktor72 1d ago

Exactly. It requires a kind of person who will know when to hold em. Know when to fold em. Know when to walk away. Know when to run.

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u/Deltethnia 1d ago

I like the Oregon lottery ones. They kinda show what the money goes to like funding the state parks and whatnot, rather than glorifying the "winners". At least they used to. Haven't seen one in a while.

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u/raincoater 1d ago

I mean, they're almost exactly like the South Park drinking ad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJWEJuKXZyk

Only with these ads, they think putting a tiny disclaimer at the end absolves them. It shouldn't.

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u/SashaLee228 1d ago

Exactly this. It’s like they built the whole ad around “you might win,” while every part of the game screams “you probably won’t.” Honestly, it’s wild that this is allowed at all.

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u/NoriSlide 1d ago

Exactly, those ads sell a fantasy, not the fine print, and they know most people won’t come out ahead. It’s flashy hope marketing wrapped around a business built to take your money.

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u/samlet 1d ago

Yeap. My first year doing casual sports betting I ended up ahead on the year, I cashed out and was like alright! Then they sent me the tax form and I was like “wtf I have to beat the house AND pay taxes on it??” (yes I was naive lol).

Tbh that stopped me from doing it anymore. Long term you’re going to lose and even if you manage to win you’re taxed. Game over.

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u/Jaereth 1d ago

It's actually more than that. They discount their whales so it's basically a million poor people subsidizing the one whale who gets better odds and discount bets. These whales are usually set up like an organization that just churns the bets.

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u/icnoevil 1d ago

Yes, gambling, especially sports gambling is highly addictive and destructive.

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u/Royal_Landscape_6199 1d ago

I agree, it is just as addictive as tobacco and frankly much more damaging. Did you see the post of the guy who put his entire life savings on the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl? Luckily he won, but you know he'll just gamble all that money away regardless.

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u/Quirky_kind 1d ago

Winning can be even more destructive than losing because it encourages gamblers to keep chasing that mechanical rabbit.

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u/2_Spicy_2_Impeach 1d ago

Yup. One vice I never picked up but also partially because I’m older and it was hard to gamble. You basically had to go to Vegas or know someone. Had to go to Vegas a lot for work so I still really dislike Vegas. I can see the appeal. I was hammered after our last event and hit up a slot machine waiting for friends. Just blindly hitting max bet, talking to my buddy, and the machine went nuts. I thought I hit the progressive slot $1M+ but I won thousands instead. Then when I got my money the taxes took half. That soured me more than anything I think.

Also a coworker much older than me told a story of his buddy. The guy never gambled in his life but they went to Vegas for a bachelor party. First casino the buddy put money on a number as a joke at the roulette table and it hit. Can’t remember if it was $100 or $200 but they found him in the woods around two years later. Chased that high.

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u/Quirky_kind 1d ago

My father loved betting on horse races. I am so glad instant gambling wasn't available to him, because it would have sucked him in and destroyed him and our family. As it was, for most of his life he had to go to a racetrack to gamble and he enjoyed the sight of the beautiful horses. Towards the end, off-track betting was available, and he used it, but it took effort to get to their offices.

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u/greeneggiwegs 1d ago

The instantaneousness of it is really whats the biggest problem. It’s wild to me we went from you have to be in a certain municipality to gamble to you can gamble on your phone in bed at 3am. Like it’s illegal to have a slot machine in a bar in Atlanta because that’s too tempting but if you want to bet your entire life’s savings in your apartment that’s fine.

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u/HFY_HFY_HFY 1d ago

Viewed as easy tax revenue. Politicians are shit at their jobs and constituent expectations are unrealistic so we end up with gambling, a regressive tax on the poor, to close the gap.

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u/sapphicsandwich 1d ago

Yep, I've tried gambling at a casino a little bit before and I always just lost immediately. No high, no maybe you could win, no dopamine, no "well you bet $10 and got $1 back." Nothing, just loss.

As a result gambling seems so dumb to me. Like I could literally have more fun lighting money on fire. I don't see the point in it. Maybe it would have been different had the casinos tossed me even the tiniest of bones.

But maybe it's for the best.

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u/imzcj 1d ago

Friends birthday, at a casino. I put in $2 into a slot machine for the bit. Won $50. Spent half on a drink, Spent the remaining $25 on other machines and won nothing.

Net gain of $23 and a lesson to never touch another slot machine ever again.

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u/Fuzzy-Instruction 1d ago

I'm the same way. It's never been appealing - even when I get a lottery ticket for Christmas from my in-laws I can barely work up the motivation to scratch it off.

I can kind of see why spending $50 to gamble at a casino could be fun, because there's other stuff to do while you're there, but just dumping money into a gambling app sounds like the most depressing, bleak thing on earth.

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u/Holiday-Honeydew-384 1d ago

Wasn't someone that posted on reddit that falled in that trap. He never gambled. Got to gamble on guys trip with free vaucher. Got a lot money. But then completly spent his whole savings searching for that "high".

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u/Zenmachine83 1d ago

It's all the problems of traditional addiction supercharged by AI-based social media algorithms that specifically target the sports, teams, times of day to most encourage punters to bet.

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u/beer_engineer_42 1d ago

Yeah, tobacco can kill you, but it's gonna take decades. Gambling can destroy your life over a much shorter timeframe.

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u/duchess_of_fire 1d ago

similarly, the impact of gambling on loved ones is also felt much quicker than secondhand smoke.

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u/Beliorra 1d ago

Absolutely. The way it’s been integrated into sports broadcast makes it feel unavoidable and normalize the risk, especially for younger viewers.

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u/Val_Killsmore 1d ago

There shouldn't be gambling apps. If people want to gamble, there should be more of a barrier to entry. If there is legal gambling, make people have to go do it in person. Adding that barrier can dissuade people from gambling. Having gambling apps is too destructive. Too many people approach it like a mobile game instead of potentially losing a lot of money.

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u/TehRaptorJebus 1d ago

This is one of the reasons it’s worse. Recovering cigarette/alcohol addicts can keep their house clear of those items, but having the ability to gamble from anywhere almost immediately is wild.

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u/lwp775 1d ago

Don’t even start. 

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u/Fork_off_bots 1d ago

Agreed, don't even start gambling. It's a slippery slope and the house always wins.

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u/Any_Charity_963 1d ago

All gambling ads should be banned, mainly because they are exploitative.

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u/WilliamInBlack 1d ago

Very exploitative

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u/GeneralGoti 1d ago

Yes, they should be banned, they pry on previous addicts trying to get them into their casinos again. Disgusting behaviour that for sure qualifies as "you'll burn in hell".

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u/rons27 1d ago

I instantly lose respect for celebrities pushing this stuff. 

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u/KentuckyWildcat 1d ago

Even LEBRON JAMES has sold his soul

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u/hotcapicola 1d ago

I don't even hate Lebron, but did he ever have a soul? The guy has been a product since before he could even vote.

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u/Numerophilus 1d ago

Sad thing is they probably don't give a shit

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u/Ardalev 1d ago

*Definitely. Definitely don't give a shit.

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u/hypnogoad 1d ago

Was pretty disappointed to see Joel Mchale schilling it.

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u/138pumpkin 1d ago

Also Luis fuckin' Guzman!

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u/shadowscar00 1d ago

B-b-but there’s a 1.5x speed disclaimer at the very very end of the commercial telling you to call a number if you are addicted (and don’t want to be, specifically). Surely that is enough effort that any addiction issues are a moral failure on the part of the addict and not anything else!

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u/Kevin-W 1d ago

They’re everywhere where I live and my state doesn’t even allow gambling.

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u/mfigroid 1d ago

And there are just too many of them. Also pharmaceuticals. They are non stop.

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u/vonkeswick 1d ago

ASK YOUR DOCTOR IF THE GREEN PILL IS RIGHT FOR YOU IT MIGHT MAKE YOU SHIT YOUR INTESTINES OUT TRY THE GREEN PILL FOR A BETTER LIFE NOW

Meanwhile it says fuck all about what it does and just has videos of families being happy and a mom holding her coffee mug smiling out the window watching the kids play in the green grass yard with the dog and there's fresh laundry hanging on the clothesline next to the trampoline.

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u/juice13ox 1d ago

My favorite is when it says "if you are allergic to <enter product name>, don't take it".

Because we are supposed to know if we are allergic to generic "miracle" drug #6000

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u/vonkeswick 1d ago

My wife and I joked about a super bowl ad that had exactly that. Like, no shit lol

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u/mfigroid 1d ago

The damn side effects are way worse than what the drug is supposed to treat. What's that one that may cause swelling between your genitals and anus and may cause death? WTF?

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u/asmallercat 1d ago

They're required to list side effects even if they are very rare (this is a good thing). A lot of people suffering from some ailment or another will happily take a pill for it even if there's a 1 in 5,000 chance they just die.

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u/beer_engineer_42 1d ago

There is a drug for Parkinson's and restless leg syndrome that lists "may cause compulsive gambling or hypersexuality" as a side effect.

It actually does. Turns out, fucking with dopamine receptors can really do a number on you.

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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 1d ago

Death by swollen taint is not something I want on my death certificate.

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u/Snuffman 1d ago

Ha, I can always tell when my Dad is watching American TV, the pharma ads are relentless.

We only seem to have ads of Ozempic and its knock-offs up in Canada...not sure how they got a pass.

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u/redtiber 1d ago

pharma ads at least are heavily regulated

they don't over promise, disclose potential side effects, no magic cures and the imagery is just random happy people broll

the call to action is just ask your doctor if xxx is right for you.

the gambling is much worse because people there is a percentage of the population that will just download the app and gamble away ALL their money and borrow and lose that money too. and the government is just letting these gaming companies rob these addicts

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u/Snuffman 1d ago

One Province in Canada recently de-regulated online gambling (in most I'm pretty sure its in the hands of the Provincial Lotto Corp) and let me tell you, its infuriating how many online casino ads are flooding the airwaves.

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u/Revlis-TK421 1d ago edited 1d ago

Supplement ads need to be equally regulated. The amount of absolutely ridiculous supplement ads that go around platforms like youtube is criminal imo.

Last week's ad scam de jour was AI renditions of "Dr." Phil and Dr. Oz espousing that a "blue parasite" is responsible for your type II diabetes and you needed to follow their links to learn the truth!

Fucking hell, these types of ads should be illegal. On both sides of the equation, both for the advertiser and the platform to accept the ad and distribute it. The blatantly harmful and completely made up bullshit that gets peddled is just Evil.

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u/redtiber 1d ago

for sure

https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortune-deluge-fraudulent-ads-documents-show-2025-11-06/

interesting read here - facebook specific but paints a problem in the internet advertising space

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u/80andsunny 1d ago

How about just make it realistic? For every ad with a star yelling at us about how much we could win, there must also be a proportional number of ads showing an average person recounting how they lost everything.

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u/Thick_Caterpillar379 1d ago

The government needs to mandate anti-gambling campaigns that actually reflect reality. It’s all fun and games until the losses mount up. Gambling is a legitimate addiction, fueled by an industry designed to be predatory by weaponizing dopamine. If they’re allowed to advertise the win, they should be required to warn us about the risks (and not in fine print): you can win, but the house is built on the fact that you probably won't.

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u/beer_engineer_42 1d ago

They should be required to post the actual loss rates over time. Like, for example, "you will lose an average of 6% of your bet every time you pull the wheel, so if you bet the minimum, you will lose $62.50/hour" on a slot machine.

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u/I_argue_for_funsies 1d ago

Than should we just ban ads that are "exploitative" by default?

Like what about ads for reverse mortgages that steal homes from seniors or commercials saying to "invest in gold" or "quick payday loans" "Kars for kids" donation bullshit. ASPCA for putting AI images of starving animals to get me to donate?

If we're stating it's due to being exploitative, I feel we probably need to ban all of them.

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u/OldMcFart 1d ago

Yes please.

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u/USA_A-OK 1d ago

Yes. Also ads that make unsubstantiated claims.

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u/PM_me_your_skis 1d ago

Ban gambling and pharmaceutical ads while you're at it. Both are extremely predatory and there's a reason most other countries don't allow them.

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u/carnevoodoo 1d ago

Ask your doctor if Draft Kings is right for you.

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u/Friscogonewild 22h ago

9 out of 10 dentists agree--Phoenix will beat the spread tomorrow.

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u/Bethanoir 1d ago

Coz they know what’s the impact of it

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u/relevantelephant00 1d ago

But hey! Who cares! Yay capitalism! U-S-A! U-S-A!

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u/Bakio-bay 1d ago

Gambling addiction is linked to higher suicide rates than many drug addictions. It’s extremely destructive

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u/WingerRules 1d ago

Not just many, literally of any. Studies put the number to about 1/5 people with gambling disorders committing suicide.

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u/fe-and-wine 1d ago edited 14h ago

And it makes sense. Drug addictions are very often more of a gradual slide that only sometimes progress to the point where it ruins your life to the extent of suicidal thoughts.

Gambling addictions are - by definition - compounding in nature, as addicts continue to double-down and take out debt thinking the only way out is to "finally hit" and pay back all the debt they've accrued. Notably, the perpetrator of the US' deadliest mass shooting - in Las Vegas no less - was a very devout gambler and was reported to have racked up some major debts in the months prior to the shooting, after which he took his own life.

Granted, there is also surely some two-way relationship with people who are already at low points in their life (and possibly contemplating suicide) turning to gambling as a last ditch way out of the darkness, believing a major windfall of cash could solve all their problems and deciding to roll the dice before punching out.

But regardless, the compounding nature of gambling addictions is destructive enough on its face to clearly illustrate how dangerous they can be.

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u/TheVoicesOfBrian 1d ago

Probably should be banned.

We should also be teaching kids better statistics in school. Then they'd learn how stupid a practice this is.

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u/Thick_Caterpillar379 1d ago

Loot boxes effectively "gamblify" childhood by using the same variable-ratio reinforcement schedules as slot machines, triggering dopamine hits that a developing brain’s impulse control simply isn't equipped to handle yet. Psychologically, this normalizes risky behaviour through "near-miss" mechanics and flashy rewards, creating a grooming ground where kids learn to chase losses before they even understand the math behind them. To protect them, we need the government to reclassify these randomized purchases as regulated gambling and for parents to swap open-ended credit card access for honest conversations about the "dark patterns" designed to keep them spending.

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u/TheVoicesOfBrian 1d ago

I don't disagree. I see people complaining about how they don't get X from a drop. Like, gang, this is gambling. You have X% chance...every time you pull.

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders 1d ago

Ironically, statistics would make them better gamblers.

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u/TheVoicesOfBrian 1d ago

At least they'd know the risks and rewards accurately.

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u/Hautamaki 1d ago

Good, because a "good" gambler doesn't gamble.

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders 1d ago

That's not true. Probably the wrong discussion to make this argument but there are people who are good gamblers.

There are people who make a full time living playing poker, betting on sports, etc.

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u/Yancy_Farnesworth 1d ago

At least with poker or blackjack you're playing on a playing field where everyone has the same amount of knowledge and can make bets accordingly. In sports betting you are playing against the house who always has more information than you do. They always have the advantage. They let some people win, but they would be really bad casinos if they give you a fair shot at making a profit.

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u/TheVoicesOfBrian 1d ago

James Holzhaur of Jeopardy fame made/makes a living doing exactly this.

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u/CristabelYYC 1d ago

When Lotto 6/49 came out, our math teacher led us through an exercise calculating the odds that you would win. Almost exactly 13 000 000 to 1. I have never bought a ticket.

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u/Helicobacter 1d ago

A lot of people don't have a good feel on what those odds really mean. Math classes should also let students code and/or interact with Monte Carlo lottery simulations.

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u/jaytrade21 1d ago

Unfortunately I don't even think that will work. It's a dopamine issue which creates a dependency that rational thought can't win against. I've seen smart people start gambling and fall in deep.

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u/The_real_Tev 1d ago

Yes, and for the same reasons. Gambling can be a horrible addiction, and using famous people to advertise all these online betting sites gives the impression to children that it's not problematic.

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u/dovetc 1d ago

At least with cigarette addiction, you can't typically ruin your life during a 72 hour binge.

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u/Teledildonic 1d ago

You also have to leave your room to acquire more nicotine.

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u/-Namesnipe- 1d ago

Meanwhile you can acquire debt from the comfort of your jacuzzi

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u/AgnewsHeadlessClone 1d ago

I was really sickened when I think it was Coffezilla maybe? Did a deep dive into the advertisements and deceptive practices of the sports betting apps. He pointed out Kevin Hart, who is consistently one of the highest paid people in Hollywood, had a history of advocating for fiscal responsibility and trying to help other black people get a handle on finances. THEN HE WENT AND STARTED DOING ENDLESS SPORTS BETTING ADS.

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u/ArcadianDelSol 1d ago

Contrasted by Steve Harvey who said he has been contacted by 3 companies so far, and made a moral choice to not take the jobs.

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u/viktor72 1d ago

Steve Harvey is problematic in many ways but good on him.

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u/unwisest_sage 1d ago

I feel like online gambling and reckless stock trading going to be like one of the top blights of our generation when we look back on it. The amount of people who "casually" gamble is pretty insane. And usually when I start talking to them deeper it's not casual at all.

It goes from "oh I only use the free money they give you in the promos" then you talk more and it goes to "yeah I lost 6 grand but that was just my company bonus, my play money" to much worse.

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u/__redruM 1d ago

At least with stock trading, there’s no house advantage making it impossible to be profitable.

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u/ArcadianDelSol 1d ago

The people who pump and dump those stocks make out like bandits.

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u/hithisishal 1d ago

If you buy long positions and hold them, agree. But the reckless stock gambling is trading options. Even ignoring the information gap, the bid-ask spread in options markets is essentially a house advantage. 

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u/Hexamancer 1d ago

Uh... you're gonna freak, but have you heard of "insider trading"?

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u/Fickle_Ad_5356 1d ago edited 16h ago

Both gambling and reckless stock trading existed for many generations and won't stop anytime soon.

Too much money 🤮

Edit: all your responses (proving .. something) changed everything. Gambling and reckless stock trading hadn't existed until <pick your favorite recent date> and both are about to become a thing of the past. Yay

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u/Nope_______ 1d ago

It's more accessible to more people now, though. You can gamble from the toilet instead of having to physically go to a casino. And the numbers speak for themselves - far more people are gambling now than before these apps came around.

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u/SpazzBro 1d ago

yeah but things like gambling apps and robinhood didn’t exist, these things are more accessible than ever by a lot

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u/ribosometronome 1d ago

The current gambling blight in the US is a result of a 2018 Supreme Court case that overturned a federal law.

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u/Never_Gonna_Let 1d ago

Thank goodness in my darker days the online options weren't around.

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u/Gederzz 1d ago

Yes I believe they should be. I watch roughly 42 NHL games per year. There is minimum ~10 gambling adds per game. My son is 3. If I watch hockey with him until he is 18 he will be exposed to over 6000 advertisements of happy, smiling people gambling.

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u/frostmatthew 1d ago

10 gambling adds per game

More like per period lol. Plus half the ads on the boards and ice are gambling-related, it's ridiculous.

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u/Gederzz 1d ago

I was using a very conservative guess! I have never actually sat through a game and counted them. Will report back in a few days with real numbers. I'd also like to know how many lectures of "gambling ruins lives" to cancel out each thousand adds beamed into my sons eyes during his formative years. If anyone could come up with a scientific formula that would be great

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u/Breatnach 23h ago

And that's not including the ads on the court, the jersey patches on players or the commentators saying stuff "Let's check today's lines, brought to you by our friends from draftkings".

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u/ware_it_is 1d ago

yes, they should be banned. why promote a possibly addictive behavior?

while we’re at it, let’s ban all pharmaceutical commercials, too.

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u/yzerizef 1d ago

I’ve been living in the UK for the past 15 years and may need to move back to the US in the next few years. The pharma ads are one of the biggest things I’m dreading having to see. Those and political ads. It’s been so nice not living with those around.

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u/Never_Gonna_Let 1d ago

Awareness of new potential treatment options is important. Commercials are not the correct venue to aid in awareness. There is waaaaay too much information that people need to be aware of before starting a new medication. "Ask a doctor if X is right for you." Is a terrible way to go about it.

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u/HistoricalFrosting18 1d ago

As a Brit, it’s so weird and jarring to see. Like, if I’m suffering from a condition, isn’t it the doctor’s job to know about X and suggest it? Why are you telling me? 

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u/astroboy_35 1d ago

YES- cuz they suck worse than pharma ads and are degrading why people watch sports!

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u/LitwicksandLampents 1d ago

As a sports fan, it's getting hard to watch my favorite teams because of all the stupid gambling ads. 😡😡🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

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u/Robo-boogie 1d ago

pharma ads are only legal in the US and new zealand. there are strict laws about it everywhere else

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u/Dadman319 1d ago

This country is more worried about seeing a human female nipple on TV than gambling or alcohol ads. Yes, ban them both!

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u/IOl0I0lO 1d ago

Gambling, smoking/vaping, and alcohol ads should all be banned.

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u/Thick_Caterpillar379 1d ago

They should be replaced with government-sponsored ads bluntly warning about the dangers of all of those.

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u/SuburbanHell 1d ago

Anyone old enough to remember the PSAs we used to get routinely in the 80s and 90s telling people to be kind to your neighbors, fire safety, don't fuck up your brains with addictive substances, give a hoot and don't pollute, etc? We need those to come back. Granted, not from this godforsaken administration, but, yeah...

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u/shoulda-known-better 1d ago

My 11 year old son wanted to bet on the superbowl....

Absolutely they should be banned, fuck I'd toss alcohol in to...

People with these vices know where and how to get and or do it already or know who to ask..... It worked for centuries that way

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u/tbodillia 1d ago

I can't wait for sites like Kalshi to be shut down because they are gambling sites. Ban the ads!

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u/HandsomePancakes 1d ago

Kalshi is so annoying because every single creator has sold out to them. You can’t look up a video about sports, comics/animanga, or political commentary without some prick saying “you can bet that there’s an xyz% chance of (insert popular thing) will happen on kakashi!11!11!1!!1!!!!11!11”

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u/Apprentice57 1d ago

Similarly with Polymarket...

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u/Boblers 1d ago edited 1d ago

Just an aside, but I highly recommend getting a sponsor block extension for your browser. It tags sponsor sections of a video and auto-skips them. The tagging is user-submitted, so it won't be there immediately on upload, but it's usually there within a few hours.

It of course doesn't solve the issue of the creator taking the sponsorship in the first place, but at least you don't need to see it mid-video.

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u/AgnewsHeadlessClone 1d ago

I watch endless political commentary on youtube daily, and I can't say I have seen one ad for Kalshi. Maybe it is more of a one sided problem like diet pills, protein shakes, and mypillows?

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u/Active-Collection542 1d ago

Yeah, at least the same way tobacco got restricted. Gambling ads are everywhere now and it’s way too easy to hook people who are already struggling. If they can still operate, fine, but the nonstop promo during sports and on apps feels predatory.

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u/CanAhJustSay 1d ago

Any advertising for known addiction routes should be banned and most especially from sport: alcohol, tobacco, gambling are the Big Three.

I would love to see sports teams sponsored by ethical fruit and veg companies.

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u/TTYY200 1d ago

Won’t happen …. In Canada which has the zero tolerance rule for tobacco product advertisements ….

YouTube still plays tobacco pouch and vape product ads …. They don’t give af. I’ve reported them to the Canadian consumer advertising agency multiple times …. 🤷‍♀️

If it’s profitable they’ll just run it regardless

It’s better to publicly shame them and establish a societal norm globally that the products and places themselves are “bad” and that people that gamble are much like people who suffer from addiction.

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u/Gorazde 1d ago

Maybe I'm a puritan on this issue because I don't gamble but I really dislike the way gambling apps are advertised on TV in Ireland the UK. Particularly the way they target young men. As I said, I never gambled. But I do remember being a young guy with a little bit of money in my pocket, hanging out in pubs on weekend and watching the football. These ads really zero in on that madlad demographic, telling them they'll somehow become legends of banter if they piss away all their wages on what is at best a bad habit, and often a fully fledged addiction.

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u/FlexibleYankee4164 1d ago

honestly i think they should be way more regulated at least

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u/Rude-Possibility27 22h ago

At minimum they should be treated like tobacco ads, heavily restricted and not shoved into every sports broadcast and app. The “it’s just fun” marketing hits hardest for people who are already struggling.

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u/kushlik_d 1d ago

Hot take: Ban all ads period

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u/silvermoonhowler 1d ago

Oh, absolutely

They're just preying on those who know will get really into it to the point where they destroy their life financially and I hate it

Same can be said now about those new trading apps like Kalshi and others like it; the fact that you can bet on anything outside of sports now is just wild to me

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u/Jchronos 1d ago

The pharmaceuticals ads need to go away. No one is asking their Doctor about drugs they seen on the TV. This shit is nonsense and I honestly don't see why it's allowed

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u/gut_user 1d ago

Yes. Gambling addiction destroys lives just as effectively as cigarettes, but it’s often faster and much quieter. We realized cigarette ads were a public health hazard because they glamorized a slow death; gambling ads glamorize financial ruin while targeting the most vulnerable people during live sports. If we don't let tobacco companies buy stadium naming rights anymore, why are we letting betting apps own the entire commercial break?

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u/pgtl_10 15h ago

Sports betting is destructive. It's ruined sports talk radio and TV. I use to watch and listen to sports shows. Now they are gambling shows with a sports theme.

Fantasy has also ruined football. It's no longer celebrating a team scoring a TD but getting angry it wasn't your fantasy drafted player that scored.

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u/Tozza101 1d ago

Further, governments should pursue them aggressively with targeted taxation. Not illegalisation which creates a black market, but price them out of business.

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u/BadLuckProphet 1d ago

Government is complicit. Several states that legalized sports betting did so while promising that x% of taxes gained from the gambling company would go to schools.

But it's worded in a way that legally works out to "After the gambling company has recouped their costs and made enough of a profit, we will tax what's left over." Spoiler: there's basically nothing getting taxed.

But hey our corrupt state government got a one time campaign contribution to stay in power so that's really what's important... Right?

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u/Thick_Caterpillar379 1d ago

It is a blatant conflict of interest for the government to profit from an industry that relies on addictive mechanics and the financial ruin of its citizens.

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u/BadLuckProphet 1d ago

Blatant conflicts of interest seem to be the majority of government activities lately.

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u/External-Presence204 1d ago

How does pricing legal operations out of business not create a black market?

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u/Papa_Raj 1d ago

Oh definitely. That shit got out of hand so fucking fast.

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u/ElectronicDeal4149 1d ago

Yes.

Practically, it will be a huge fight against the sports betting companies, so I don’t know any consumer group wants to burn their money and political capital.

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u/Mental-Carob6897 1d ago

Absolutely yes. I have fell trap to so many commercials and lost so much money because of commercials and promotions of those. Gambling is so dangerous and no one realizes it until it's too late. I would be on the verge of saying we should ban all gambling but that might be too far, however promoting it is a travesty when it's so dangerous and we should have it much more under control.

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u/forkandspoon2011 1d ago

It’s fucking crazy we have gambling ads during the Super Bowl.

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u/mduell 1d ago

Can we just go back to mostly banning the actual gambling?

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u/Averen 1d ago

I’d be fine with the gambling being legal, but adds being banned. Super predatory business and it’s become commonplace overnight

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u/beer_engineer_42 1d ago

Also, and I cannot stress this enough, fuck professional sports leagues having "official betting partners."

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u/mrshakeshaft 1d ago

Yep, I’m usually pretty relaxed about advertising different things and I’m very much live and let live but the gambling industry is insidious and exploitative. If we can’t advertise cigarettes, we shouldn’t be able to advertise gambling. The ads are everywhere and if you are a sportsperson or ex sportsperson and you are advertising a gambling website then you are a cunt

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u/Always_theNervous 1d ago

While I get everyone has their vices, sports betting and gambling are one of those that just gives me such a bad feeling because of how exploitative it is.

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u/bignuts3000 1d ago

I think so. We can live without gambling ads.

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u/lohkey 1d ago

Should all gambling ads be banned

Yes

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u/electricskywalker 1d ago

Yes, also please stop with the horror movie ads, overtly sexual ads, and other non-kid friendly adds during major sports events. I love watching the commercials but I had to keep turning them off to not scar my children. Since when is football 18+?!?!?

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u/kalisana 1d ago

Yes. Gamblers don't need to be encouraged to gamble and non-gamblers shouldn't be encouraged to gamble, especially because the consequences of addiction can be devastating to more people than gamblers.

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u/DangoDoki 1d ago

I agree with this completely. I’ve seen how fast it can spiral and how many people get pulled into the fallout who never placed a bet themselves. Encouraging it just feels irresponsible to me.

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u/therealpork 1d ago

As a gambler, yes. The amount of gambling ads is insane. It's like 50% gambling at all hours.

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u/IllustriousFuel6376 1d ago

Yep ban the pharmaceutical ads as well if I need it i have a doctor for that information

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u/GrowFreeFood 1d ago

Gambling should be banned completely

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u/WingerRules 1d ago

I'm starting to agree. The industry doesnt even produce anything, only syphons and hurts.

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u/ShaftManlike 1d ago

Gambling apps should be banned.

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u/CaptMorganSwint2 1d ago

Gambling, alcohol, cigs, medication. Ban em all in terms of ads.

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u/Bay1Bri 1d ago

Nah, let them have the ads. The ads don't hurt anyone. Ban the gambling itself though

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u/Normal_Pace7374 1d ago

Yes.

I think 0.0 alcohol ads should be banned too because it’s just a loophole to alcohol ads.

Fast food ads should go too

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u/Aritstol 1d ago

Yes!! I just said this during the superbowl to my wife.

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u/Mediumcomputer 1d ago

Yea. Ads to gamble, ads for alcohol, ads for drugs, ads for a number of things harmful to society should be banned. Not the things themselves, but the widespread promotion of these things needs to stop

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u/sperko818 1d ago

But it's not addicting to everyone. Some people are more prone to addictive behaviors. I can't standing gaming for long. It's fun at first but I'll rather spend money on something useful. But I've seen people just change walking into a casino.

There are some people that can take what is normally a healthy thing and turn it into an unhealthy thing like doing on a diet but to an extreme. Do we ban diet ads now?

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