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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   30439 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 21, 2022

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Gambling for children is the new frontier.

Hardly. Not only have people been gambling forever, but children have been gambling forever. Or at least since Roman times. Moral panics about it are nothing new either.

I think the point there is about the locus of control; kids throwing dice among one another is one thing, but kids putting in their parents' CC info for Fortnite V-Bucks is another thing entirely.

You might as well say moral panics about pornography are nothing new and point me to some concerned mothers group from 1000 BC worrying about a suggestively shaped rock as if that has anything to do with modern trends of porn consumption and their effects.

I relation to the internet, yes, it is a new frontier. I don't know what you would allow to qualify as being a new frontier but to me the explosion of these markets is very new. Back when I was younger there were two places to gamble, sports betting, which was heavily regulated, and a single state regulated slot machine hall. Needless to say, it was only the most dedicated who managed to rack up large losses. Fast forward to today, I know 4 people personally who have each lost, in total, more than half a years' worth of wages or more through betting tokens for some video game.

Maybe you live in Las Vegas and this is nothing new under the sun for you, but this didn't exist where I live until in recent years.

Also, targeted advertisements and brazen promotion of gambling to minors has been officially condoned by corporations like Valve through official Esports partnerships and API access. It has never been easier to develop a gambling addiction as a child.

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