Gambling Addict: Is Your Time Arriving?
April 25, 2022
Addiction squared might not be such a good idea. Vox reports, “Phones Can Be Addictive. Sports Betting, Too. Now We’re Combining Them.” Writer Peter Kafka ponders:
“Remember when we decided that spending too much time on our phones was a bad thing? That immersing ourselves in our iPhones could be unhealthy, or even addictive? That was a couple of years ago. So riddle me this: Now something that we already know is potentially addictive — sports betting — is available on those phones, accompanied by a media blitz promising a path to easy money. But people raising concerns about that combination seem few and far between. So what happens to the sports betting industry if someone — namely Apple or Google, which have enormous control over what you can do with your phones — decides they do have a problem with that? Because whether you approve of gambling or not, it seems obvious that making it easily available to anyone with a phone and debit card, with few to no restrictions and a ton of advertising encouraging you to place your bets, is going to lead to problems for some people. This isn’t one of those stories about the unintended consequences we get from tech: It’s right there, on the surface.”
Yes, the evidence is clear when one looks at New Jersey, which was the state that prompted the Supreme Court in 2018 to let states legalize online sports betting. According to the executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, calls for help related to sports betting increased to 17% of calls, up from 3%. Such concerns seem to be far outweighed by the money to be made, both for states seeking tax dollars and companies looking to rake in the profits. From the established MGM Resorts to startups like DraftKings and FanDuel, companies are spending billions to lure users.
Kafka goes on to ponder the positions of tech companies, relates a bit of his own experience, and points to Atlanta Falcons player Calvin Ridley as a cautionary tale. Isn’t anyone worried, he asks? Nah, fostering addiction for profit is a perfectly acceptable business model these days.
Cynthia Murrell, April 25, 2022
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