[agent_turtle]

I'll throw some anecdotal data down. I'm a military brat who grew up on bases around the country and in Germany. My dad was a gambling addict. It was not uncommon for us to spend all day at the bowling alley on base, which was where the slot machines were.

At the time, I didn't know better and just played arcade games all day. Eventually, I started to put together just how much money my dad must have put into those slot machines. Thousands, maybe most of his salary. It certainly explained why we generally had no furniture in our house compared to my friends.

So am I against slot machines on base? No. I have no doubt that if they weren't readily available in a safe/controlled environment, my dad would have still found a way to gamble. If anything, it was a forcing mechanism for him not to go overboard given the limitations of what was offered on site.

I do however wish there were programs that existed to provide offramps for people with addiction, similar to supervised injection sites for drug users. Seems to me that this could be easily funded with the proceeds.

[MandieD]

I don’t know what it was like before I came over two decades ago, but I think you’re likely right - there are tons of little casinos and sports betting parlors in even small towns in Germany, and unless they were explicitly declared off-limits to soldiers by the post/base commander, he’d have been at one of them gambling away his paychecks, and exposed to people who would not have been likely to get on base who could have caused him even more trouble.

[wahern]

> provide offramps for people with addiction, similar to supervised injection sites for drug users.

Supervised injection sites in the US don't provide offramps, not unless they require as a condition of use regular counseling. Europe had both kinds, but American harm minimization advocates imported the no-strings-attached variety while using the data for the counseling-required sites to sell them to policy makers.

To carry that over to the slot machines, maybe the slot machines should have required some sort of access ID so users could be tracked and addicts identified for intervention (easier today than 20+ years ago) as a condition for continued use. That might be kind of tough in a military environment, though, given the emphasis on morality and potential repercussions if you're not diligent enough to hide your dirty laundry from your CO; sort of like why commercial pilots don't see mental health professionals.

[ryanjshaw]

I feel like a portion of the slot machine income needs to go extensive therapeutic support for compulsive gamblers. Of course that would probably be gamed. Or make the machines completely unprofitable.

[lupusreal]

> Or make the machines completely unprofitable.

That gives me an idea, maybe the slot machines operated by the government should operate at even odds so the long run expected loss, and winnings, is zero. No house cut. This might make the machines more addictive, but on the other hand once gamblers get accustomed to government machines having even odds maybe the predatory commercial machines would lose their appeal?

[claw-el]

If it is operating at even odds, would this be subsidized entertainment? As there are still operating cost required to run the machines?

[lupusreal]

Electricity, upfront cost of the machine, floor space, maintenance. Probably not much in all, but not nothing.

[ryanjshaw]

Wouldn’t matter I think. The problem is there’ll still be people who destroy everything they have on the machine.

[sitzkrieg]

they could, but if making less money is in the equation its not going to happen. the only way to get a casino to cut you off is to get too drunk or count cards

[rib3ye]

When/where did his addiction start?

[agent_turtle]

Long before I was born. If you're trying to suss out which came first, the addiction or the slot machines, I don't have a definitive answer for you.