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Notes -
This seems like one of those Late Stage Capitalism style ads that were in the RoboCop movies, except these people are apparently serious?
https://www.coverd.us/
Just gamble with your credit card bill?
Does anyone think this shouldn't be illegal?
Can anyone explain to us - the poor debit card peasants, wtf is this thing? I watched the materials and still have no idea what it is supposed to do.
From the press release, it sounds like the cash back on each purchase is dynamically determined by some sort of mini-game. Normally credit cards have fixed rewards - eg. 3% back on groceries, 2% on gas, 1% on everything else. I think the idea here is that instead you'd have a small chance of getting a large discount by playing a digital slot machine or something, averaging out to the industry standard of 1-2% cash back over the long term. But gamified in a way designed to be addictive.
The other issue is whether this is the thin edge of the wedge - once you've normalized your customers gambling for discounts, why not integrate it with an actual online gambling platform?
Yeah the business model as it actually exists is too dumb for words, but when you consider it as potentially a play to get a bunch of really gullible problem gamblers all on one platform, then it becomes impressively evil instead of just stupid.
Thinking about it I wonder if there's a tax play here. Gambling winnings are fully taxable, but credit card rewards aren't...
Maybe they're communist accelerationists? Best case capitalism collapses under the strain of all of the wanton grifting, worst case they can say they tried but failed but hey at least they got rich?
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