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Technology has fueled a sports betting boom and a spike in problem gambling, addiction therapist warns

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/technology-fuels-sports-betting-boom-and-problem-gambling-spike-addiction-therapist-warns-60-minutes-transcript/

There's been a surge of young problem gamblers since sports betting was legalized. An addiction therapist warns AI-powered sports betting has spurred a public health emergency.

Technology has fueled a sports betting boom and a spike in problem gambling, addiction therapist warns::There's been a surge of young problem gamblers since sports betting was legalized. An addiction therapist warns AI-powered sports betting has spurred a public health emergency.

27 comments

sucricdrawkcab

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I can believe it. Every commercial break is an ad for sports betting.

TrainsAreCool

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Some sports broadcasts literally tell you the betting odds during the broadcast now, it's kind of disgusting.

paraphrand

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Holy shit. That’s trashy.

SuperSynthia

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So in practice I believe a person should be allowed to gamble within reason. That being said the gambling business seems built on exploiting the end user and enabling/proliferating addiction.

I’m hoping it settles down like legal weed did. It will always have the client base but the newness will wear off hopefully.

jqubed

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Shocking: industry that sells addictive product engages in behavior to increase addiction to product

Imgonnatrythis

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Maybe this experience will teach us a lesson that will be passed on throughout history so that something similar can be avoided in the future?

AA5B

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That’s a good one. I laughed out loud at wotk

demonsword

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I’m hoping it settles down like legal weed did

legal weed never ruined anyone's life, unlike gambling addiction

SuperSynthia

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Agree 100%. Enforcement against weed was more harmful than the drug.

paraphrand

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Yeah, and even for those who let weed get out of control in their life, dropping weed and moving on is far easier than climbing out of the hole you can get into with gambling.

Sineljora

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It’s the regulations, not the technology. It was ruled that sports betting is “skill-based”, and then these apps exploded.

bionicjoey

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What sucks is once the US made that ruling and these companies became incredibly rich there, they suddenly had the resources to start lobbying other jurisdictions to change their regulations as well.

Gregu

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Ontario made it legal for sports betting awhile and the amount of ads I’ve been getting for that stuff has been really annoying. Can’t even listen to a podcast or watch tv without getting sports betting apps crammed down my throat.

Wwwbdd

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I've noticed the same, and it's horrifying when you think about the cost of all those ads and how it's mostly funded by people with gambling problems

demesisx

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This seems like a great place to plug my upcoming fantasy baseball betting DApp. /s

😅

le_saucisson_masquay

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Very interesting article. I think with the amount of cash flowing into betting business and being used to lobby or finance campaign we won't see any regulation anytime soon.

We knew Tabaco was unhealthy already in 1947, it took 50 years to get serious regulation. Maybe in 2068 we'll fix betting issue, that's only 2 generation lost.

KeefChief13

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It started off slow, but now a bunch of my buddies place bets on like every little sports thing. It ruins the game for me.

bramblepatchmystery

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That's rough. I once knew a guy at work who was suffering from gambling addiction. Actually pretended $600 was stolen from him at work just so he could have a report to show his landlord or something bonkers.

I also knew a lady who had broken her arm, waited until the next day and then pretended she fell at work, got rushed to the hospital and immediately got LNI. The temp who was replacing her discovered like $50k in fraudulent checks.

Every single penny had gone to slot machines, of all things.

autotldr

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This is the best summary I could come up with:

Next Sunday on CBS, the Super Bowl will, for the first time, be held in Las Vegas… a fitting venue given the prominent role gambling plays in sports today.

America has recently brought its age-old love of sports betting out of the shadows and onto our phones… and this has created an all-time mismatch, pitting man against machine: gamblers—overwhelmingly young men; versus gambling companies, armed with sophisticated AI, data, and engineering, enticing fans to make snap bets, not just on games, but on every play within games…The early results?

So far, that crisis hasn't happened… but, the last five years have given rise to a surge in young gambling addicts… Joe Ruscillo, now 26, says his problem started in high school… then, in 2022, sports betting apps came to his home state of New York.

Jon Wertheim: I think people who aren't familiar might think of the typical gambling addict as, you know, a middle-aged guy in a windbreaker who's betting his retirement savings.

A decade ago, Levant was a trial lawyer, whose gambling addiction was so fierce he used client money to fuel his habit, leading to his disbarment… in his current career, he's noticed today's desperate gambler looks—and acts—a lot different.

Recently, he paired up with Dick Daynard, a law professor at Northeastern University and architect of the first major lawsuits against the big tobacco companies.

The original article contains 2,265 words, the summary contains 228 words. Saved 90%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Raxiel

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I don't trust the Gamble-Tron 2000, I only place my bets according to Smooth Jimmy's Lock of the week

minibyte

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It’s a strange feeling seeing these people with high tier players cards, and it’s their first time in a casino.

ItsAFake

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Yeah. I shouldn't be able to lay in bed, stoned AF and bet on dog racing in a country I'll never visit.

stoly

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I suspect that a lot of this will blow over as time passes. It's a novelty now, but people will quickly grow tired of it.

Gutless2615

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Yeah gambling is definitely just a passing fad. It’s not chemically addictive at all

stoly

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Not gambling in general, THIS form of gambling. But I guess it's easier to not show charity in your interpretations and go on the attack.

Gutless2615

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So THIS form of gambling isn’t chemically addictive?

AA5B

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I disagree. The legit sites might be a novelty that will lose its coolness factor (and I think that’s generally good), gambling has always been a harmful addiction and this just makes it faster, easier, less regulation. In my experience, gambling is now by far the most common spam I get, both ripoff and legit. It’s everywhere.

One of many harmful factors is the numerous scam sites for gambling. However legacy gambling was heavily regulated to ensure some sense of fairness and transparency, but online gambling could be anything. The history of legacy gambling is a good indication that if they’re not forced to have standards, they won’t.