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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 21, 2022

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How Colleges and Sports-Betting Companies ‘Caesarized’ Campus Life

The online gambling deals have helped athletic departments recoup some of the revenue they lost during the pandemic. The partnerships bring in extra funds that schools can use to sign marquee coaches and build winning sports teams. Mr. Haller, Michigan State’s athletic director, said in a news release at the time of the Caesars deal that it would provide “significant resources to support the growing needs of each of our varsity programs.”

The partnerships raise questions, however, about whether promoting gambling on campus — especially to people who are at an age when they are vulnerable to developing gambling disorders — fits the mission of higher education.

Some aspects of the deals also appear to violate the gambling industry’s own rules against marketing to underage people. The “Responsible Marketing Code” published by the American Gaming Association, the umbrella group for the industry, says sports betting should not be advertised on college campuses.

promoting gambling to 18 year olds is the latest way in which college sports are distorting the goal of college. at uc boulder, the school gets $30 every time someone downloads an app and makes a bet. the faculty managed to ensure that this money went to the right causes, though:

“We came up with the idea that the money from the referral bonus could actually go toward diversity and inclusion and equity efforts at the university, in particular because a lot of the money in athletics are made from underrepresented minorities,” Mr. Hornstein said. A spokesman for the university’s chancellor, Philip DiStefano, confirmed that some of the money will be used to expand mental health and diversity initiatives.

Gambling for children is the new frontier.

With much of the gambling market having sat at relative stagnation compared to the explosion of other recreational markets through various internet activity, we are finally seeing a proper proliferation of gambling. From kids buying lootboxes through ingame apps, which sits at a similar place as kids buying Pokemon cards. Which, differing from Pokemon cards, devolves into straight up gambling through third party websites. Where there is no definitional difference between third party websites that facilitate the gambling of various video game tokens and actual online slot casinos that accept direct money deposits. You have an entire arc where you can go from child to adult and develop a compulsive gambling addiction.

This is then compounded through video game streaming culture where people are gambling away 'fake' money to promote gambling facilities. Where, through affiliations with streaming sites and gambling sites, they receive money from every aspect of their activity. Be that persons who watch and give money to the stream, or kickbacks from the gambling website for each person that signs up through their affiliate link. The fakeness of the endeavor then reaches glorious heights when sometimes the streamer owns a part in the gambling website they are gambling on and receive better odds at winning. Giving them a perfect opportunity to advertise just have much fun 'can' be had. Outside of that there is also always the incentive for the streamers and gambling facility owners to do dealings under the table.

This isn't some dark corner of the internet, or some little known website run out of Malta where you can play online versions of slot machines at a slightly higher RTP. These are the biggest mainstream titles in one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world. These are made to be addictive to children. Specifically engineered by our fine class of programmers and designers to get them to spend money. To get them hooked on gambling.

I mean, could you imagine, when you were a kid, your parents buying you a toy that came equipped with a functional slot machine? Where you could take a 20 dollar bill, put it into the machine, and potentially receive a new toy? What if, instead of being saddled with the reality of having to make a new toy, the company that owns the toy can just print out a card that you want? But that still costs some money. What if the company can just conjure up a pixel that it displays on a screen? Completely divorced from the burdens of traditional money based gambling, these fantastic designers, psychologists and programmers can create a gambling environment where the only worry is how to most effectively direct children and teenagers into a cycle of gambling addiction.

which sits at a similar place as kids buying Pokemon cards.

Just as a note, as an elder millennial when we actually cared about the cards themselves, we didn't just buy packs - we went to the secondary market at giant nerd swap-meets or online and just got the individual cards we wanted. It was actually a salutary early example on how prices fluctuate with popularity and trend (e.g. card prices could vary wildly week to week based on tournament results and the currently-prevalent game meta) and in balancing cost vs desire.

The existence of the secondary market makes cracking packs more like gambling. You pay $4 for a pack that might have a market value of $1 or $100.

You don't need a secondary market for that. Even if the cards only have collectible or play value, it's still gambling. You pay money for the chance to get what you want.

It's always weird when people excuse gambling schemes targeted at kids by pointing at Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh! booster packs: Those were never okay either.

Yes, but insofar as the kids are interested in playing the game, it makes the gambling much less relevant because now you can just go get the card you want.

The part that makes it a bit more like gambling is that you can't just run off photocopies of the cards and just use the ones you want without paying for them. In official tourneys anyway.

I don't see the gambling. Card X now costs $4, and Card Y now costs $5, and Card Z now costs $10. No need to gamble for them at all; you pick the ones you want and buy them in the quantity you want for set prices.

Buying singles on the secondary market does allow someone to play the game without gambling themselves. But in order for that secondary market to exist, someone has to gamble. The company only sells packs.

But why are you forced to put money into the Pokémon "ecosystem" at all?

You might see the point in that you can ABSOLUTELY play casino games at home for "free" using play money.

Which isn't, then, real gambling.

If you go to a casino/Pokémon tournament, they force you to play with real chips/cards.

Which reinforces the part of the scheme that makes them money.

Unless nintendo changed things dramatically with print on demand or something, you can only pick those cards because they're the payout to someone gambling on the purchase price of the packs.