He grew addicted to the effortless, rapid-fire action. Every game, every quarter, every play — click, click, click. Thompson would ultimately wager $18.5 million with FanDuel, earning him VIP status with the company. That meant exclusive perks, from champagne to Super Bowl tickets, which made him feel important and enticed him to continue gambling.
By late November 2024, Thompson had incurred steep losses and resorted to desperate measures to fund his addiction. Then, one afternoon, he flicked open his phone and received a FanDuel reward that momentarily distracted him from his debts: a personalized video message from Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper.
The Inquirer obtained a copy of the 21-second video. In it, Harper addresses Thompson by name and acknowledges Thompson’s young son. Harper ends by thanking Thompson for his support.
Snapshots from a failed country.
I get the headline is to draw people in with a big name, but honestly that’s far from the worst part - the details are absurd. “VIPs” (aka people who lose a shitload of money) having addiction-maxxing representatives assigned to them, reaching out whenever they stop gambling to give them rewards as incentives to gamble. Like imagine if Jack Daniels was keeping track of alcoholics and sending packages of shooters to their house when they stopped going to the liquor store. Really bleak shit.
Imagining getting a personalized AI video from Joe Camel. “Hey buddy, I just added enough Camel Cash to your account for a free carton. Come on, come smoke with me! I’ll be a very sad camel if you stop smoking…”
with AI that would be incredibly easy to do
Yeah gambling should be banned. I used to take the attitude that we should let people have their fun as long as they know the risks and all that bullshit, but it’s gotten so out of hand at this point thanks to frictionless online gambling services allowing addicts to destroy their lives without even having to leave the house.
At this point my anti-gambling platform is: fully criminalize the operation of any casinos, gambling websites, and informal gambling dens. All legal culpability is on the operators with zero legal risk to the patrons / addicts, effectively pitting patrons against the providers of the gambling. That way it becomes functionally impossible to run any gambling service because as soon as a person owes more money than they can easily tolerate, they have every incentive to go to the law and crash the whole thing.
Even better, add incentives to narc
If some asshole can get a paycheck for going to the state alleging I did unemployment fraud, why not
I used to think temperance movement people were moralizing religious shitheads but I didn’t know shit could get so bad with no end in sight for how bad shit gets
How do we handle tribal casinos? I have some ideas, but just want to pick people’s brains.
What are your considerations for why they would be handled differently?
Reparations and how much money it brings in for the tribes… Just realized I’m making some assumptions that it benefits the tribes at all.
Yeah, I mean actual reparations are uncontroversially supported on this board (rightly so), but I don’t think the casinos are reparations and regardless a) how much do they generally benefit their tribes? and b) surely we can get an equivalent or greater degree of benefit from something that isn’t a heinously predatory social poison.
Also as far as I understand it, the casinos are more so a byproduct of limited career options for tribes. When you have no other outside investment, best you can do is leverage your limited sovereignty to permit a business that isn’t permitted elsewhere.
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“Here’s some rope. Go wild!”
Dystopia
the recent trueanon ep on gambling/vegas was incredibly bleak. So much time, energy, and resources poured into keeping people addicted and draining them of every last cent possible. The addicts/gamblers just have no chance when these gambling corps have millions to pour into research to figure out how people tick and how they can exploit it to the absolute max.
One example they gave was how electronic machines aren’t allowed to adjust odds to keep people hooked so they skim a little bit off each bet and put it into a separate pot that’s used to give the player “wins” so they don’t get demotivated on a losing streak
unlimited gambling addiction on millionaire failsons
You lose everything
But get to feel like a part of something (but not actually be)
That’s some cult shit.least annoying thing done by bryce harper
