Status Updates From Everybody Loses: The Tumult...

“Gambling is basically the antidote to boredom. Why do we have so many people who are so fucking bored? …if you can just make happier humans, then addiction goes down, suicide goes down… Why have we gotten to the point where society is looking for so many ways to numb itself or make itself excited?”

“The mentality of gambling operators is ‘We will do something until we’re told to stop.’”

“In the gambling industry… innovation is how to work around the rules, how to find loopholes.”

“…the European companies running some of the biggest US sportsbooks were allowed to introduce Americans to sports betting using methods that those companies had already been forced to abandon overseas because of the damage they’d wrought.”

“Many gambling experts in the UK agree that Americans are walking into the same trap their own country and others in Europe have found themselves in as a result of legalizing sports betting without installing proper guardrails.”

“Why would anyone take issue with using a gambling tax to learn about the effects of gambling?”

“Fundamentally… the more they fund problem gambling programs, the more they’re going to see the actual costs. It’s not ignorance, it’s deliberate. They want to count the revenue. They do not want to count the bodies.”

Hot damn.

“Research into problem gambling is even more neglected. The federal government spends about $1.6 billion annually to research drug abuse, $600 million annually to research the effects of alcohol, and $0 to study gambling. One potential source of funding is the federal excise tax on sports wagering handle, which goes to the government’s general fund.”