If you can’t watch a sport without a wager, then you’re into gambling, not sports.
How exciting is horse racing on its own? (It isn’t)
I fucking love horse racing man, and no i dont gamble (anymore lol)
doing it or watching it?
Watching, or going to the racetrack is awesome, i love going to the stables and seeing the horses before they race, but i watch on TV too.
The horsies are very cool and neat! Love seeing them doing their best
Yup, I fell into the sports gambling world for a few years. I originally just played fantasy football and thought it was fun then quickly started gambling on each fantasy season which then just became gambling each game and then became gambling on sports I didn’t watch like golf.
I was able to break the addiction but I cannot watch any sports anymore do to a fear of falling into that all again. Its actually nice to not to give a fuck about these rich athletes anymore and just enjoying things I can do.
I never understood how people can enjoy gambling or be addicted to it.
Yeah I get that it’s exciting, but spending money on actual goods and services can be exciting too.
If you find gambling using a $1000 exciting, wouldn’t using that $1000 on other things be even more exciting?
Winning money is only fun because said money can be used for fun. It wouldn’t really be a problem if it was points instead of currency. If what gives gambling its excitement is spending your winnings, just spend money from the get go.
Idk, I just don’t get it.
Same, but many people are wired very, very differently from you and I here.
The diversity of the human mind is truly the most wonderful and terrifying thing about our species.
Gambling addiction is about the high like any other addiction. It comes down to brain chemistry, and personality. There’s the high from anticipation, and a second from the payoff just like every addiction. Gambling is just easier than most because it’s money, something we all have to use. Like food addiction, it’s something we all need to consume.
It’s “intermittent” or “unpredictable reward” coupled with the addict’s brain wiring. The thrill and relief of a win is addictive.
If you’re not wired that way you simply aren’t going to “get it”, same as not really understanding any other addiction - at least in any way other than intellectually.
This is like the complete opposite feeling I had the one time I went to Vegas. I played slots for all of an hour and I felt sick at all the money I flushed down the drain, even though I ended up pretty much breaking even. I spent the rest of the time there just wandering the strip people watching and taking in the sights.
Slots (or gambling) are ok as long as the user understands that you’re gonna lose, you go with a set amount of money, and once the money is gone you’re done.
Then you’re ok, you’re paying for the “entertainment” of the game and the chance of the win, again, if once the money is gone you’re done.
No fretting over the loss. It’s a reasoned choice, and doesn’t hurt anyone.
But like alcohol or other drugs it can turn bad for some people.
If you very much dislike the idea of dumping money into that form of entertainment and would rather spend it on shows, nice food, and experiences like that, great! That’s what works for you, and for most of us is far more satisfying choice.
It’s basically a skinner box + the unknown, if I spend $1000 then I’ve spent $1000, but if I gamble $1000, I could win all this money, or I could lose it all, no one knows, and every time it’s new + dangerous. It also just ruins your perspective/ respect for money, because if you gained/lost 20k in an afternoon, what are you going to do go back to working for $20 an hour for half a year for what you made/spent in 2 hours?
I don’t gamble, I just buy pallets of equipment at auction in the hopes that I can resell it for a profit.
I dont gamble, I just bid on abandoned storage units and hope for the best.
I don’t gamble, I just spend thousands of dollars and several years on an education and hope I will be able to make more in the future and be able to support my family.
I don’t gamble. I buy stocks in companies.
That’s different though,
Both gotcha games and loot boxes start with the user wanting to use money to get items. The chance factor is just there to mask the cost since the user might just get a rare on their first try.
My point was gambling to win money isn’t like normal addiction cause you already start with what you want.
I guess it just taps into greed and the desire to always have more? Why spend the $1000 when that can become $2000? Wonder if gambling is more of a problem in our capitalistic system as we are all trained to be as greedy as possible.
Oooh, that’s an interesting psychological study! You could asses people’s gambling tendencies and their political leanings, and look for a negative correlation between communism and gambling!
It’s the variable reward that does it. That’s also true for animals. Give a pigeon a button that when pressed gives sometimes nothin or some food and they go haywire and become addicted to pressing the button.
Then the money men saw it works the same in humans. Hence loot box mechanics everywhere. Press bottom and get variable reward. Whaddya know, some folks are really susceptible to this and hit that button like a pigeon.
Sports betting is the same, but with the illusion of skill around it.
Give a pigeon a button that when pressed gives sometimes nothin or some food and they go haywire and become addicted to pressing the button.
My dog goes nuts when I’m in one particular part of the kitchen because her treats are in one of the drawers, even though 9/10 times I’m doing something other than getting a treat for her. The payout is often enough that she puts on a show to try and get a treat out of me lol
We used to play poker when I was at university, but because we were all nerds we used to play for Pokémon cards.
It is fun but playing for money is a really bad idea because even if it’s all amicable and no one actually cheats it will still result in one person being happy with the outcome and everyone else being mad at them.
But I’m with you I’m much rather just spend money that I own rather than take a risk on it especially because I can do the odds. I’ve often thought I would rather play the stock markets than in a casino, the odds are better because there is actually an element of skill involved.
I’ve been gambling before and it was fun when I won money. The thing is I know how, with few exceptions with games like poker and blackjack (and only then if you’re skilled), you will ALWAYS lose more money than you win over long enough of a time period.
I’m a big, walking math machine, though, so I’ve been the person getting a little too tipsy at the roulette table and telling everyone exactly how probability works and that numbers are never “hot”. The roulette dealer was surprisingly amused.
I think it’s because they think they’ll win more money. I’d be happy having fun while getting money at the same time.
Reading your comment, I’m imagining that the “likes gambling” trait has much overlap with the “temporarily embarrassed millionaires” trait. These are people who do not get excited from regular purchases because regular purchases do not strike them as a way to get out of their temporarily embarrassed rut.
I’m really hoping that legislation will be in place to curb this sort of thing by the time my kids are old enough to want to watch sports. I’m not thrilled at the prospect of those ads marinating in their young brains, and I don’t relish the thought of trying to explain to a credulous 8-year-old that we can’t win millions of dollars betting on hockey games.
Hoping is different than expecting, unfortunately.
But you can win it’s practically gaurenteed!
-Ads.
Seriously, why don’t these things have warnings on them like cigarettes. I see ads for the local casino that say stuff like “riches are just 3 exits down,” it’s crazy. Should also say “GAMBLING IS ADDICTIVE AND YOU WILL LOSE MONEY” or something.
They do have that in Australia
But of course, they rely on people thinking “yeah, but that won’t happen to me because I’m somehow different”
They’re obviously the dumbest
As Dr Karl says: gambling is a tax for being bad at math
Nah, ads should just not be allowed to lie in any form whatsoever.
Yes, this includes Redbull if it does not actually give you functional wings.
What you’re hoping for is that governments go back to protecting people instead of being used by the rich to transfer wealth from the citizenry.
Everyone knows gambling has zero social benefit and does a lot of harm. But none of that matters because you can show up to a few congressmen with a few thousand dollars and they’ll do what you tell them, and no other congress critters will get in their way because every other congresscritter wants support for their grifts.
Government is working hard to find a million ways to redistribute wealth upward. Public advertising of gambling is just one more sign of corruption.
In case you still thought the sports industry isn’t evil…
Practically all sports stars are perfectly happy to advertise and work with scummy companies (like aforementioned gambling companies), and countries like Israel or UAE. As long as they’re paid nice money.
Same for sports events. They’ll all happily take money to advertise billionaire pedophiles’ companies or terror states.
It’s almost impossible to spend any money on sports-related events or merchandise without supporting gambling or contributing towards genocide. Maybe some local ones? Maybe…?
I’d wager the majority of people trying to get into professional sports is because of the money.
also because of sports
All I needed to know was to pay attention to the terminology and optics of NFL drafts and the power dynamics following it. The fact that those in power are a-okay with problematic stuff like that, strongly suggests they have skewed ethics and likely apply that ethos everywhere.
I switched to UK streams of F1 for this exact reason. It’s out of hand.
I just paid for F1TV via an Indian Apple account. Very cheap and better commentary than SkySports. Plus it has extra analysis videos.
I stopped watching F1 2 or 3 races in this year. has it improved? the constant pass and repass is boring and not what F1 is supposed to be in my opinion.
It’s still that sadly, they tried fixing it with new rules mid season and it slightly got better but it’s still the same more or less
that’s a shame, truly. it is what it is. there plenty of more interesting series like WEC and IMSA and WRC I think are more fun to watch at this point.
Sports betting is huge in the UK though.
But its advertising is regulated even if the industry itself is allowed to do whatever they want outside of the advertising restrictions.
So you won’t get constantly blasted for advertisements to bet while watching.
Huh, interesting. I didn’t know that. I thought it was similar to Australia, where the betting services do advertise.
They can advertise, they’re just not so in-your-face and will have links to Gamble Aware as part of the advert.
I think they can only advertise after the watershed which will be in the evenings. So for a live event during the day they can’t advertise.
Let’s all cut cable TV.
Oh wait, I already did.
The only reason I have cable TV is it was literally cheaper to get it packaged with my Internet than just getting the Internet alone.
My internet and cable are provided for free by my complex. I never even plugged the cable box in.
Interesting backwards.
For me it’s literally cheaper to pay for cable than buy the sports subscriptions. I don’t watch sports, thus I don’t have cable.
I’ve never had cable in my entire life. Parents never paid for it, and I got so sick of watching planes crash into buildings 25 years ago that I stopped watching it entirely. It didn’t take long before advertising drove me crazy, and I’ve never been back.
I’ve been arguing with strangers online ever since. I should get back into books.
I’m a straight old dude and I don’t enjoy sports or gambling.
Bit fruity. Happy Pride!
Yea. I never understood why people go insane over it pay stupid prices to go watch.
But I did gamble once, iirc, foot Germany vs Ukraine, i believe i made like 100€
pay stupid prices to go watch
As a non-sports fan, my very first football game was in box seats that we won tickets to. The whole experience was brilliant. It was just a constant party the entire day, and it helps that this stadium is basically in the middle of a residential neighborhood 10/10 would absolutely drive for hours in game day traffic and sit in the open air stadium in January when it’s below zero out for that vibe again
Yes exactly that i dont understand, at all. Watching a game is already boring, but doing so outside in cold? Fuck no lol
Its not about spending money, its about anticipation and excitement. It turns something that people enjoy like watching sport, and gives a personal investment. It goes from, “id like carolina to win” to “it means something to me if Carolina wins.”
People who are addicted to gambling arent gambling to buy things. Theyre addicted to gambling. Theyre gambling so they can gamble more. Its like people who are addicted to drugs. Eventually the soft stuff doesnt hit like it used to, and the need bigger doses or harder drugs. They need to win more money, so they can gamble more money.
I watch only torrents of sporting events and all the commercials are removed.
It’s amazing 99% of the time. 1% of the time I discover the result prematurely.
Which reminds me, time to watch game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals after I hit send, or I’ll blunder across the results.
This is really just a common foot in the door tactic. We didn’t have such widespread issue with gambling couple of years prior - now we’re desensitised to it appearing within ads. Its sad, because no one really wanted this; and because of it, all we are getting in return is manipulation.
Meanwhile, Pete Rose is still not in the Hall of Fame.
Yea man I barely see any beer commercials anymore. Won’t anyone think of the alcohol companies??
What sport are you watching? That’s literally the other commercial.
It’s okay, sports aren’t that interesting anyway
Different strokes for different folks
There’s a lot of sports I don’t enjoy watching but some are pretty cool IMO
I gave up watching sports in large part because of the rampant gambling push. I still love the game of football itself and I do miss seeing the excitement and athleticism, but the ads and shitty, greedy owners ruined it for me. In doing so, it also freed up tons of time not playing (and being frustrated by) fantasy sports, so that’s a bonus. A down side is that when someone asks me a sportball question I can only shrug. Overall more time not being on the couch is good and, in my opinion, there seem to be more pressing matters at hand than sports.
Don’t worry, they’re plastering the same shit in your news as “prediction markets”.
Sports are completely not interesting to me, so gambling would be maybe the only option to get me thrill from this
You just described the 99% of sports fans nowadays, at work a bunch of dudes who hated sports in high school would skip practice and go smoke or something instead, now they spend their entire weekends gambling on football.
I will say, sports are fucking amazing beautiful and great for your health, and you don’t need any tv or screens at all to participate in them. IMHO nothing better than going to a local high school game and cheering on the kids. Some of them are actually pretty good! But it’s like anything else, hollywood doesn’t define what acting is, top chef doesn’t define what cooking is, and NFL doesn’t define what sports are either. Fuck whats on tv go out and experience something for yourself IRL.
I thinks most sports aren’t interesting to anyone if they are honest with themselves.
For me, watching soccer is fun sometimes because I used to play a lot. I get to compare my experience to a professional one. But even then, I’m not an avid fan. I don’t follow any teams or know player names etc.
What’s weird to me is so many people watching sports they’ve never even considered playing.
Have you watched hockey? I struggle to fathom why everyone doesn’t love it!
Right? I love hockey. I played field hockey in most of my school years and it was a lot of fun. Ice hockey is similar, it’s fast paced and exciting to watch.
I also enjoy catching other sports from time to time; rugby, football, soccer, basketball, and cricket. Even if I don’t understand all the rules, it’s fun watching folks play games with skill.
As usual, what a poignant observation from pizzacake.
As usual, what a intelligent observation from a talking vegetable.
As usual, what a moist observation from a Tremors knock off.
Found it! I knew there would be one.
It’s funny how I don’t need to clarify that it’s sarcasm for people to know that it is.
![All Hail Gamblor [PizzaCake]](https://slrpnk.net/pictrs/image/2d9c12ff-0566-41ef-84b1-bd75003eb91a.webp){kind=link}