[BostonCard]

Yes, I would like to see better prevention and treatment for these various forms of addiction.  Ideally, we should have implemented that before we legalized all the vices and saw people experience catastrophe, but better late than never.

I suspect we all would. However, it must be understood that these prevention and treatment programs are far from 100% successful. From experience over many, many years we know that some percentage of the population will engage in these types of behavior. Some of them will be harmed a little, some will become addicted and harmed a lot.

We also know by experience that attempting to use law enforcement to prevent this type of behavior generally fails. It also carries with it a great risk of reducing the respect for law of any kind. Any action that over 15-20% of the population believes is "OK" generally cannot be prevented by legal means. There are just too many violators. The only thing IMO that does actually cut down on these behaviors is to modify public opinion to regard these activities as "not cool" or even anti-social. It will not eliminate these behaviors but it does greatly curtail them. Smoking is an activity that has been so mitigated. It isn't illegal, but it has definitely fallen off radically. Unfortunately we have no reliable way to make that happen for other behaviors, at least not yet.

Full disclosure: I was raised in Nevada. I don't gamble. Never was interested. Obviously know many people who do. Know even more people who made their living off of those who do.

I've never quite bought the argument that just because some people might break the law means you should legalize it.  From the article: Gambling increased from "$4.9 billion in 2017 to $121.1 billion in 2023.".  That's a 24-fold increase.  Like, yes, before you could still gamble, either illegally or by traveling to a jurisdiction where it is legal.  There are lots of people who decided that the risk of getting caught or the hassle of traveling to Vegas or Atlantic City or an Indian reservation wasn't worth it.  Now that you can do it on an app in a fraction of a second.  Add to it the amount of marketing that gambling companies are putting into it, not to mention the inducements to get people to start (ie, we'll give you a free $20 to start), and you get a fair number of people who might never have started gambling or seriously gambling who fall into an unhealthy habit.

Unfortunately, there is a perverse incentive because the companies make most of their money from problem gamblers.  So, while the majority of people might have a small wager here or there to sharpen the stakes and make the experience of watching more enjoyable are not a big deal, they are also not a moneymaker. Not sure how you fix this fundamental problem.

BC

[BostonCard]

Yes, I would like to see better prevention and treatment for these various forms of addiction.  Ideally, we should have implemented that before we legalized all the vices and saw people experience catastrophe, but better late than never.

I suspect we all would. However, it must be understood that these prevention and treatment programs are far from 100% successful. From experience over many, many years we know that some percentage of the population will engage in these types of behavior. Some of them will be harmed a little, some will become addicted and harmed a lot.

We also know by experience that attempting to use law enforcement to prevent this type of behavior generally fails. It also carries with it a great risk of reducing the respect for law of any kind. Any action that over 15-20% of the population believes is "OK" generally cannot be prevented by legal means. There are just too many violators. The only thing IMO that does actually cut down on these behaviors is to modify public opinion to regard these activities as "not cool" or even anti-social. It will not eliminate these behaviors but it does greatly curtail them. Smoking is an activity that has been so mitigated. It isn't illegal, but it has definitely fallen off radically. Unfortunately we have no reliable way to make that happen for other behaviors, at least not yet.

Full disclosure: I was raised in Nevada. I don't gamble. Never was interested. Obviously know many people who do. Know even more people who made their living off of those who do.

I've never quite bought the argument that just because some people might break the law means you should legalize it.  From the article: Gambling increased from "$4.9 billion in 2017 to $121.1 billion in 2023.".  That's a 24-fold increase.  Like, yes, before you could still gamble, either illegally or by traveling to a jurisdiction where it is legal.  There are lots of people who decided that the risk of getting caught or the hassle of traveling to Vegas or Atlantic City or an Indian reservation wasn't worth it.  Now that you can do it on an app in a fraction of a second.  Add to it the amount of marketing that gambling companies are putting into it, not to mention the inducements to get people to start (ie, we'll give you a free $20 to start), and you get a fair number of people who might never have started gambling or seriously gambling who fall into an unhealthy habit.

Unfortunately, there is a perverse incentive because the companies make most of their money from problem gamblers.  So, while the majority of people might have a small wager here or there to sharpen the stakes and make the experience of watching more enjoyable are not a big deal, they are also not a moneymaker. Not sure how you fix this fundamental problem.

BC