[adriang133]

Why regulate gambling?

Reading the article about the addicted woman, she's perfectly aware of what she's doing and she's perfectly aware she's blowing money away on nothing. There's nothing to be regulated. Conscious adults can make their own decisions.

How ridiculous is it for her to ask Zynga to close her account and then still try to log into it later? This isn't a regulatory issue, it's a willpower issue. Might as well regulate how much/what food you can buy so people don't get fat.

[rwnspace]

Absolutely baffling take. I hope you never get seriously addicted to anything or your mindset that "it's all willpower" will destroy you.

[adriang133]

But it IS all willpower. The other take is baffling to me - the notion that "we"(the smart people/ the regulators/ the ones above the masses) need to protect weak people because they are too weak to do something about it.

It's a ridiculous proposition in my opinion. First, it's intractable - Zynga closes the woman's account, she'll find other ways to blow her money away. But the biggest problem is not even that - the proposed solution of regulation, which nowadays is a universal hammer for absolutely every problem, takes freedom away from me and you in order to protect her. Even though as I've said it doesn't really protect her.

Regulation is a terrible solution to any problem, almost all of the time.

[rwnspace]

Ah, I though I was talking to a political zealot, thanks for confirming.

You clearly have no reference for the experience of a severe addiction and how reduced access and affordances can reduce the chances or severity of relapse.

I hope you enjoy eating your heavily regulated dinner tonight before you sleep in your building-regulated abode atop your fire-safety-regulated mattress.