[JumpCrisscross]

> don't know the ROI. It's hyperbolic, I'll freely admit that.

Being a bookie is making a market. As long as you do your maqth right, your potential for losses are capped--lots of small bets are actually less risky in this respect. Problem gamblers are a cherry on top, far from essential to any gambling enterprise, particularly not one making a two-sided market.

> We let problem gamblers gamble more, and it's not fair pros take advantage of that dark pattern

The pros are the beneficial bacteria checking how much the apps can prey on the problem gamblers.

[phs318u]

When the "cherry on top" (problem gamblers) is responsible for half your revenue (from the Bloomberg article), then that's not just a cherry. That's half the cake. And it's a really, really, big cake.

[JumpCrisscross]

It's still cake! The implied assertion is gambling enterprises need problem gamblers. That if you restrict their ability to prey on problem gamblers, nobody gets to casually gamble.

I know nothing about gambling. But I know a lot about market making and the math of being a bookie. And basaed on that, I don't think the claim is true.

[phs318u]

Well, I don’t know much about market making but as a member of Gamblers Anonymous since 1998 I’ve seen just about every kind of devastation caused by every kind of gambling. In the last few years I’ve seen a significant increase in the number of very young men coming to us. Here in Australia, the gambling industry absolutely is laser focused on targeting young men using every psychological trick in the book, including such pernicious features as “Bet With Mates (tm)” which is explicitly designed to use peer pressure to lock in and escalate those in the group who may otherwise pull out.

If we accept that almost 50% of revenue comes from 80% of gamblers (a diverse cohort) while the other almost 50% comes from 3% of gamblers (a far more uniform cohort), then of course betting companies would be absolutely defending against any change (regulation) that would impact the 3%. Furthermore they’d be remiss in their duty to their shareholders if they weren’t trying to migrate gamblers from the larger cohort to the smaller.

[Yeul]

It will just be like meth and painkillers: everyone pretends there isn't a problem for years until it gets so bad that the government has to step in.

[SpicyLemonZest]

Absolutely looking forward to the headlines in 2034 about how gambling apps were just too tricky and deceitful so there's no way anyone could have known how bad they were.

[kasey_junk]

I also no nothing about gambling and a lot more about market making.

One major difference that may change the math is the tax rate. Illinois for instance just passed a 40% tax on sports betting.

[consteval]

Intuitively I see all addictive industries the same. The Tobacco industry can, and does, make money off of the odd cigar at a house party. But ultimately, they rely on the constant addiction to have a business model.

It's cheap, and easy, to make nicotine free tobacco like devices. You could lower your cost quite a bit - pretty good for the books! But it doesn't matter, and nobody with half a brain does it.