[MexicanJoe]

It's true and possible. I worked in e-commerce before and you could argue, that I was optimizing our conversion rate, so more people would buy more shit they don't need. They should spend their money on their kids instead. That is a valid point of view but that is just most business.

[Tarsul]

there is a difference between these types of addictions. Granted, someone might be "addicted" to buying clothes/shoes/etc. but that person won't take debt to try to get more shoes, whereas an addicted gambler might just do it to get his money back... also, nowadays, with a smartphone always ready, gamblers have less options to avoid their addiction (whereas with casinos they could ask to be blacklisted. Also they always had to go there, which takes time and effort. Taking the smartphone does not. A very small lapse of 5 minutes can lead to losing a lot of money. Also with internet ads they really can't escape nowadays.).

Still, it is a legal business so basically it appears as if (in a working democracy) the community has decided that gambling is ok overall. (personally, I'd like more regulation because the benefits of gambling, which is taking money from addicted people with basically no value add, do not outweigh the costs)