Loved this, especially how practically-minded it was--I also appreciate anyone on the left who is willing to acknowledge that gambling can be fun. I'm definitely from the YSM myself (to be clear, NOT the Yale School of Medicine, the Yuppie Soyboy Mediasphere), and had gone along with the judgmental tongue-clicking of my cadre when it came to gambling for years, but then I had to do research on casino operations for a writing project, and I wound up, if not totally getting bit by the bug, finally understanding why there IS a bug. I kinda dig casinos! They're fun, and small stakes gambling is genuinely entertaining, and every so often, it pays for dinner.
Since then I've been amazed by the difference between the way We of the Left discuss gambling (the demon at the heart of capitalism enslaving the unwary) and the way we discuss alcohol (entrepreneurism at its finest, and certainly not something that killed more people during COVID than...COVID). The fact is, both are pretty fun, and pretty deadly, I don't make the rules!
The whole discussion around gambling really annoys me, because I feel like the discussion is only ever in the "America Bad" direction.
When I was younger, you only ever heard why the US was a backward, Puritanical hellhole because we didn't allow sports gambling, like all of the enlightened European countries. Now that we've mostly legalized gambling, we're still a hellhole, but now it's because we made it legal!
Meanwhile, you never heard anyone on the Left making a cogent anti-gambling discussion 20 years ago - that was left to crazy right-wing moralists, and today you never actually hear anyone say "I'm really glad we've legalized gambling, this is so much more rational."
I guess people just love to hate, but it drives me crazy that we can't have a consistent discussion without one side or the other going completely to ground.
Highly recommend listening to the gambling advertisements on Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast (https://billburr.com/podcast/) -- on the first ones a few months ago, he refused to read all of the 1-800 number disclaimers and instead told people not to be idiots, not to ruin their families, etc, but now he does the read and then a pre-recorded message (by the advertiser) recites the 1-800 numbers. I always wonder who calls those numbers and if that's really the best solution in this day and age to help people.
This was a great read, thx for sharing!
PS: I had to look up "toke" to figure out if I'd been spelling it wrong all these years, but I don't think so -- am I missing out on toaking?
I know Bill Hicks “you’re off the artistic roll-call if you do a commercial” bit is unrealistic, so I try not to begrudge anyone for making a buck, but Patton Oswalt pitching sports betting? Patton?
It’s like airplane travel. I’m not afraid of flying; it’s crashing that scares the hell out of me. Similarly, I’m not struggling with gambling; it’s losing which pisses me off…
If they are going to legalize something that makes it more likely that you're giving $5 hand jobs to truckers outside a Waffle House, then they need to make giving $5 hand jobs to truckers outside a Waffle House legal too. It's only fair.
As an Ohio State alum/fan, I heed the warning of iconic tOSU QB/HH Holmes of degenerate gamblers Art Schlichter “I was really good at picking winners, it was the parlays that killed me!!”
As for a “cooling off period”, how on earth do have that for bar Keno-our favorite gambling device in the Buckeye state, which accepts credit cards!?!?
As a libertarian, I take a Darwinian approach to drugs and gambling-do whatever you want, but don’t ask the state(as in literal-Ohio, NY,etc.)/society to pick up the tab……oh, and Draft Kings, $$ fantasy football, etc. are for losers, not real fans….nothing more pathetic than seeing your team lose but people being happy b/c a player had a big game for them….
Tennessee passed a lottery and then a law that requires cash for tickets. Of course, there's an ATM in every gas station, so what this rule ends up actually doing is putting more of the lotto player's money into the hands of the financial institution without slowing them down at all.
Loved this, especially how practically-minded it was--I also appreciate anyone on the left who is willing to acknowledge that gambling can be fun. I'm definitely from the YSM myself (to be clear, NOT the Yale School of Medicine, the Yuppie Soyboy Mediasphere), and had gone along with the judgmental tongue-clicking of my cadre when it came to gambling for years, but then I had to do research on casino operations for a writing project, and I wound up, if not totally getting bit by the bug, finally understanding why there IS a bug. I kinda dig casinos! They're fun, and small stakes gambling is genuinely entertaining, and every so often, it pays for dinner.
Since then I've been amazed by the difference between the way We of the Left discuss gambling (the demon at the heart of capitalism enslaving the unwary) and the way we discuss alcohol (entrepreneurism at its finest, and certainly not something that killed more people during COVID than...COVID). The fact is, both are pretty fun, and pretty deadly, I don't make the rules!
I really appreciated this article.
The whole discussion around gambling really annoys me, because I feel like the discussion is only ever in the "America Bad" direction.
When I was younger, you only ever heard why the US was a backward, Puritanical hellhole because we didn't allow sports gambling, like all of the enlightened European countries. Now that we've mostly legalized gambling, we're still a hellhole, but now it's because we made it legal!
Meanwhile, you never heard anyone on the Left making a cogent anti-gambling discussion 20 years ago - that was left to crazy right-wing moralists, and today you never actually hear anyone say "I'm really glad we've legalized gambling, this is so much more rational."
I guess people just love to hate, but it drives me crazy that we can't have a consistent discussion without one side or the other going completely to ground.
The Astral Codex Ten review of "Addiction By Design" convinced me that gambling companies are almost as evil as the tobacco companies. https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/your-book-review-addiction-by-design
Highly recommend listening to the gambling advertisements on Bill Burr's Monday Morning Podcast (https://billburr.com/podcast/) -- on the first ones a few months ago, he refused to read all of the 1-800 number disclaimers and instead told people not to be idiots, not to ruin their families, etc, but now he does the read and then a pre-recorded message (by the advertiser) recites the 1-800 numbers. I always wonder who calls those numbers and if that's really the best solution in this day and age to help people.
This was a great read, thx for sharing!
PS: I had to look up "toke" to figure out if I'd been spelling it wrong all these years, but I don't think so -- am I missing out on toaking?
I know Bill Hicks “you’re off the artistic roll-call if you do a commercial” bit is unrealistic, so I try not to begrudge anyone for making a buck, but Patton Oswalt pitching sports betting? Patton?
It’s like airplane travel. I’m not afraid of flying; it’s crashing that scares the hell out of me. Similarly, I’m not struggling with gambling; it’s losing which pisses me off…
‘Sports gambling is now legal in 31 states, including most of the good ones’. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Incredible back to back clips
If they are going to legalize something that makes it more likely that you're giving $5 hand jobs to truckers outside a Waffle House, then they need to make giving $5 hand jobs to truckers outside a Waffle House legal too. It's only fair.
A handjob goes for $10, not $5.
Two Peep Show references, amazing!
As an Ohio State alum/fan, I heed the warning of iconic tOSU QB/HH Holmes of degenerate gamblers Art Schlichter “I was really good at picking winners, it was the parlays that killed me!!”
As for a “cooling off period”, how on earth do have that for bar Keno-our favorite gambling device in the Buckeye state, which accepts credit cards!?!?
As a libertarian, I take a Darwinian approach to drugs and gambling-do whatever you want, but don’t ask the state(as in literal-Ohio, NY,etc.)/society to pick up the tab……oh, and Draft Kings, $$ fantasy football, etc. are for losers, not real fans….nothing more pathetic than seeing your team lose but people being happy b/c a player had a big game for them….
Tennessee passed a lottery and then a law that requires cash for tickets. Of course, there's an ATM in every gas station, so what this rule ends up actually doing is putting more of the lotto player's money into the hands of the financial institution without slowing them down at all.