I put down a few bucks on the horses on the first Saturday in May, but it seems like online sports betting is just specifically designed to screw people out of all their money as fast as possible.

I guess…change my mind? Or don’t.

Edit: I wasn’t asking anyone to convince me to gamble, I was curious who the hell actually throws money in a black hole and wanted to hear their perspective. Thanks for the downvotes.

    • rumschlumpel@feddit.org
      3·
      6 days ago

      Eh. The big state lotteries are certainly scams, but in most cases they aren’t going for “as fast as possible”, but “keep it going by regularly taking small amounts for a long time, from as many people as possible”.

      • GreenShimada@lemmy.worldOP
        2·
        6 days ago

        It’s actually a similar to disease r-values vs. fatality rates. If the gambling scheme takes too much profit, it burns out. It can’t give up the promise of winning faster than stories of loss accumulate. I’m sure casinos have hired economists and statisticians to find the optimum percentage payout for slots in Vegas to keep people pounding the SPIN button like rats hitting a feeder bar in a lab.

    • GreenShimada@lemmy.worldOP
      1·
      6 days ago

      Look, I know you’ll not want to hear this, but it’s not actually about screwing people as fast as possible at all. I have family in Vegas and used to live close to the Nevada border, with a few card game dealer neighbors. Casinos, to me, are where retirees throw away money to subsidize my buffet trip. I don’t understand people that play slots. In 2003 I won $13 at my second pull at some slots and never touched one again.

      But casinos are truly evil in that they tease you perfectly. You win just enough to keep you hooked, but you do win. People winning keeps the dream of you winning going. They gladly comp you drinks and used to comp shit food which feels like a win. But casinos, at least, are not systematically invulnerable. May partner and I spent maybe 4 hours going between 4 or 5 casinos playing roulette once because she had never been to the Strip. We started with $20 I planned to lose, got a few comped drinks at Slots-o-Fun, never made some huge win but my partner and I had a fun time for less than the price of a movie in terms of value/time.

      But, I’m also not addicted, and I never bet more than I plan to lose.