Gambling can be fun, but absolutely addictive. I used to live 2 hours from Lake Tahoe. Because I love games of all kinds, I knew I could fall down the rabbit hole, so I would go with my entertainment money for the month (before kids, before marriage -- say, $100), fill my car up with gas, invite a few friends, and leave my ATM card at home. If I lost, I lost. If I won, yeah. I never played slots, though -- but I do play video games (that don't cost anything) and they can be addictive, so I can see how someone might become addicted to slots. And online with no limits? That's a recipe for complete disaster. I'm very libertarian in my views -- i.e. individual rights and responsibility -- but we have speed limits for a reason, and I think gambling limits should fall in the same realm.
Alex, first of all, thanks for shining a light on this. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else touch on this issue, so thank you for that.
Secondly, there’s a quote by George Orwell that goes along the lines of using gambling, along with beer and football, as tools to control the population. I never really paid much attention to gambling until I realized Orwell talked a lot about it as a means of control. When you understand Orwell, you start to understand Huxley too. As I’ve written in my own work on Brave New World, this is about population control. Controlling the population involves giving them these distractions, and they’re becoming bigger than ever.
Recently, I’ve been questioning why we’re seeing this sudden rise in sports betting, especially with how you can now bet on sports so easily. It seems like everyone is getting involved in it, and that tells me there’s more at stake in terms of population control. Gambling might just be the ultimate tool to keep society in line, maybe because things are getting so bad.
Probably on to something. There's a growing number of men out there that consider serious/organized/professional sports and everything related to be "gay".
I am embarrassed and ashamed to say that I lost six figures on slots in a two year period. I have analyzed my behavior and emotions--and you are spot on, Alex. I play slots to just disappear from life. It is similar to when I was bulimic--and while binging, would just fade away from myself and reality.
From my experience with bulimia, I think that shame plays an essential role. Being ashamed of myself for purging or for losing money is a warm and familiar place. That's my experience. Others' mileage may vary.
Like I said in the past I too had a close friend who committed suicide jumped in front of a train while we were getting lumber at the lumber yard. I had a uncle who was the same way. Our government makes billions off of these people and it's not right.
This is the other big cabal riding along with drug legalization (which took off after John Boehner became top lobbyist for it and gave Republicans the green light to go along). Government makes money off of both and politicians make money off of investments right along with the investors. Whether this is insider trading or not, it looks bad and I am sure it is happening. In both cases it is the rich taking advantage of the poor to get richer in the most insidious way. It is one thing if I get richer providing a good or service one needs. It is another if I get rich providing entertainment or something fun but not necessary. But the third version is getting rich while destroying people's lives (opioids anyone?). How has it come to this? I know growing up in the 70s in New York my Grandma's senior center would do a day trip to Atlantic City once or twice a year and that was all the gambling that was done. Vegas was too far away. Yes, one could bet on the horses but that involved a trip as well. Now there is a casino in the middle of Long Island about a mile from where I grew up. There is one two miles from where I live now and another 12 miles away and another 30 miles away. As I think on it, there are almost as many casinos in range at this point as there are major hospitals. Well maybe a couple more hospitals.
There is some value in making something like this more difficult to do. We do not live in a libertarian society. If one blows all their money gambling or doing drugs there is a public cost. We do not say "they knew the risks and this is a free country" and let them mire in their own squalor or worse, die. But even if we did and there was no cost, I think it is still wrong. There needs to be some guardrails. And much as we must looking at public health, drug legalization, the attack on free speech, and so many other issues, we really need to examine the path we are on and who is sending us off on this path. It is getting late but to quote a famous lyric, "there's still time to change the road you're (we're) on." Not much time though.
On January 9, 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone, probably the most addictive device ever made.”
Make no mistake. iPhones themselves are 100% handheld addictions. I treated addictions for several decades and predicted (not hard at all by the way) exactly what was going to happen and has happened with phone addiction. It’s amazing to see people absolutely PANIC / as in true fight or flight panic / when they lose their phones.
As someone who frequently cannot find her phone for hours, because I am so absent-minded about it, I am annoyed by the phone obsession. I have had bitter arguments with my sister and my son about being on the phone when they are with me. I run very long distances (30 mikes) with friends and can't believe they keep their phones on and check texts while we run.
I hung onto my Blackberry till the fall of 2020. I was good at using it, especially typing. It was great tool for work and to keep in touch and even do research. It was serious. Ironically, while the IPhone has nice bells and whistles, I simply hate using it to communicate via text or email. Consequently, I thankfully happily leave it in another room for hours and feel no compulsion to be constantly looking at it like 95-100% of the rest depending on generation. So, I am with Anne who commented earlier. And there is definitely a control factor. Why is everyone from the Bank to the grocery store to the politicians so obsessed with texting you or having you download their apps or even use the phone to pay for things? It is control, not convenience. I went to a concert the other night and everything was on the phone- the parking, the tickets. All of this fumbling to find things on the phone, login, and scan things delays everything. So that is not the reason. And what happens when they shut it down? You get shut down, that's what.
Exactly! I told my wife I’m getting a flip phone; my grands communicate via snap most of the time but I am lucky that they go “old school” with me and text. 🤦🏻♂️
Jim, you're absolutely spot on—these devices are highly addictive. I’ve written several articles on this issue myself. In one of my recent pieces, I discussed how apps like Instagram are a total waste of time.
And I also explored how these tools not only foster addictive behaviors but are designed to make money off of us while doing it. They control us, and they profit from it.
A high school friend lost all of his savings, his weekly pay check and his father’s house playing video poker at his neighborhood bar once it was legalized in Chicago.
I'm addicted to Substack. Alex, Eugy, bad cat, and that Energy Absurdities guy keep consuming my time. And the only thing I have to show for it is that I'm extremely well informed and can win arguments against any leftie.
I live in NV and I think it’s awful how they have slot machines in every day locations like grocery stores and gas stations. People who have issues with gambling should be able to get groceries or gas without walking past these temptations. I think they should not be allowed anywhere but the casinos. And online gambling is going to be a huge problem and I don’t see how they are going to keep kids from doing it. I understand that the “contests” on Mr Beast that apparently require purchase to enter are already a problem.
OK, so a problem has been identified. What's the solution? I could be for education. I am not for "the government" deciding that they know better what's best for you than you do. Having said that, anyone honest has to acknowledge the problems that arise anywhere gambling is permitted.
As an aside, I'd rather see Alex tackling big pharma and government censorship than some new issue out of left field.
I first moved to Las Vegas in 1994. At that time, still had majority of pull handle slots. What drew so many people in were 'Cash your paycheck and get free spin of the wheel' promotions. So many people lost their paycheck and why Las Vegas was and will always be such a transient town.
So the question becomes, when does having the rights of adults curtailed because these adults cannot maintain composure? A question that can never be answered.
its the old slippery slope....I don't have a real problem with restricting rights for those under the age of 18, but adults have to make their own decisions...if they screw up, then you man up, pay the price, hopefully learn and then move on...
we do seem to have an epidemic of adults that act like children...'Mommy, you are going to come to my job interview with me, aren't you?'
Back in the 1990s I was with a friend playing roulette in a Casino in Reno. After I lost my $50 (why my friend liked roulette I can never tell you), as we were walking out I had 50 cents in my pocket and I put it into a nickel machine and won the jackpot. Nickels started pouring out of the machine. I grabbed a big cup and got most of them in it, but others were spilling out onto the floor. My friend and I picked them all up and lugged them over to the cashier, where they amounted to about $60. Now that experience was FUN. Seeing all those coins spilling out of the machine, that's true entertainment. That was the last time I played slot machines, though I've watched my mom play on some of the new video machines. I just don't it. There is no possibility of fun with these machines at all.
What gets me about this is that our government micromanages our lives in all kinds of ways supposedly to protect us from ourselves, because supposedly ordinary people can't make good decisions on their own about their lives--yet the same government has no problem allowing this kind of gambling to go on, and when people lose everything of value they have, the government just shrugs and says, oh, well, they made bad choices.
We had a boyfriend killed over video gambling. He wanted to go home, the wife wouldn’t stop. They got into an argument and told to leave the bar and she then shot her husband in the head as he was trying to get her to the car. Of course we knew him, not her and that’s the full story. The article glosses over the gambling aspect “for some reason).
Gambling can be fun, but absolutely addictive. I used to live 2 hours from Lake Tahoe. Because I love games of all kinds, I knew I could fall down the rabbit hole, so I would go with my entertainment money for the month (before kids, before marriage -- say, $100), fill my car up with gas, invite a few friends, and leave my ATM card at home. If I lost, I lost. If I won, yeah. I never played slots, though -- but I do play video games (that don't cost anything) and they can be addictive, so I can see how someone might become addicted to slots. And online with no limits? That's a recipe for complete disaster. I'm very libertarian in my views -- i.e. individual rights and responsibility -- but we have speed limits for a reason, and I think gambling limits should fall in the same realm.
Alex, first of all, thanks for shining a light on this. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else touch on this issue, so thank you for that.
Secondly, there’s a quote by George Orwell that goes along the lines of using gambling, along with beer and football, as tools to control the population. I never really paid much attention to gambling until I realized Orwell talked a lot about it as a means of control. When you understand Orwell, you start to understand Huxley too. As I’ve written in my own work on Brave New World, this is about population control. Controlling the population involves giving them these distractions, and they’re becoming bigger than ever.
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/the-brave-new-world-of-1984-part
Recently, I’ve been questioning why we’re seeing this sudden rise in sports betting, especially with how you can now bet on sports so easily. It seems like everyone is getting involved in it, and that tells me there’s more at stake in terms of population control. Gambling might just be the ultimate tool to keep society in line, maybe because things are getting so bad.
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/has-the-america-condition-improved
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/7-reasons-you-should-stop-watching
Anyway, those are just a couple of thoughts I wanted to share after reading your article. I hope they add something to the conversation.
Probably on to something. There's a growing number of men out there that consider serious/organized/professional sports and everything related to be "gay".
I am embarrassed and ashamed to say that I lost six figures on slots in a two year period. I have analyzed my behavior and emotions--and you are spot on, Alex. I play slots to just disappear from life. It is similar to when I was bulimic--and while binging, would just fade away from myself and reality.
From my experience with bulimia, I think that shame plays an essential role. Being ashamed of myself for purging or for losing money is a warm and familiar place. That's my experience. Others' mileage may vary.
Like I said in the past I too had a close friend who committed suicide jumped in front of a train while we were getting lumber at the lumber yard. I had a uncle who was the same way. Our government makes billions off of these people and it's not right.
Agreed. Our government engages in the art of Menticide and Democide. That’s just how one controls the population.
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/democide-and-menticide
And on top of that, these practices generate them profits so it’s a win win situation. The lives lost are nothing but numbers on a report: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/profits-over-people
This is the other big cabal riding along with drug legalization (which took off after John Boehner became top lobbyist for it and gave Republicans the green light to go along). Government makes money off of both and politicians make money off of investments right along with the investors. Whether this is insider trading or not, it looks bad and I am sure it is happening. In both cases it is the rich taking advantage of the poor to get richer in the most insidious way. It is one thing if I get richer providing a good or service one needs. It is another if I get rich providing entertainment or something fun but not necessary. But the third version is getting rich while destroying people's lives (opioids anyone?). How has it come to this? I know growing up in the 70s in New York my Grandma's senior center would do a day trip to Atlantic City once or twice a year and that was all the gambling that was done. Vegas was too far away. Yes, one could bet on the horses but that involved a trip as well. Now there is a casino in the middle of Long Island about a mile from where I grew up. There is one two miles from where I live now and another 12 miles away and another 30 miles away. As I think on it, there are almost as many casinos in range at this point as there are major hospitals. Well maybe a couple more hospitals.
There is some value in making something like this more difficult to do. We do not live in a libertarian society. If one blows all their money gambling or doing drugs there is a public cost. We do not say "they knew the risks and this is a free country" and let them mire in their own squalor or worse, die. But even if we did and there was no cost, I think it is still wrong. There needs to be some guardrails. And much as we must looking at public health, drug legalization, the attack on free speech, and so many other issues, we really need to examine the path we are on and who is sending us off on this path. It is getting late but to quote a famous lyric, "there's still time to change the road you're (we're) on." Not much time though.
“You can see where I’m going.
On January 9, 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone, probably the most addictive device ever made.”
Make no mistake. iPhones themselves are 100% handheld addictions. I treated addictions for several decades and predicted (not hard at all by the way) exactly what was going to happen and has happened with phone addiction. It’s amazing to see people absolutely PANIC / as in true fight or flight panic / when they lose their phones.
As someone who frequently cannot find her phone for hours, because I am so absent-minded about it, I am annoyed by the phone obsession. I have had bitter arguments with my sister and my son about being on the phone when they are with me. I run very long distances (30 mikes) with friends and can't believe they keep their phones on and check texts while we run.
I miss the good old days when phones were for making phone calls.
I hung onto my Blackberry till the fall of 2020. I was good at using it, especially typing. It was great tool for work and to keep in touch and even do research. It was serious. Ironically, while the IPhone has nice bells and whistles, I simply hate using it to communicate via text or email. Consequently, I thankfully happily leave it in another room for hours and feel no compulsion to be constantly looking at it like 95-100% of the rest depending on generation. So, I am with Anne who commented earlier. And there is definitely a control factor. Why is everyone from the Bank to the grocery store to the politicians so obsessed with texting you or having you download their apps or even use the phone to pay for things? It is control, not convenience. I went to a concert the other night and everything was on the phone- the parking, the tickets. All of this fumbling to find things on the phone, login, and scan things delays everything. So that is not the reason. And what happens when they shut it down? You get shut down, that's what.
Exactly! I told my wife I’m getting a flip phone; my grands communicate via snap most of the time but I am lucky that they go “old school” with me and text. 🤦🏻♂️
Jim, you're absolutely spot on—these devices are highly addictive. I’ve written several articles on this issue myself. In one of my recent pieces, I discussed how apps like Instagram are a total waste of time.
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/instagram-the-perfect-tool-for-people
And I also explored how these tools not only foster addictive behaviors but are designed to make money off of us while doing it. They control us, and they profit from it.
https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/the-perfect-tool-to-control-you-and
So, yeah, I completely agree with your comment!
Absolutely. Reading your links now!
My man! We’re on the same page with this topic on Alex’s stack and on The Free Press as well! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
A high school friend lost all of his savings, his weekly pay check and his father’s house playing video poker at his neighborhood bar once it was legalized in Chicago.
This is so sad.
Alex a worthy subject indeed. Thank you for both pieces.
I'm addicted to Substack. Alex, Eugy, bad cat, and that Energy Absurdities guy keep consuming my time. And the only thing I have to show for it is that I'm extremely well informed and can win arguments against any leftie.
Lolol!
I live in NV and I think it’s awful how they have slot machines in every day locations like grocery stores and gas stations. People who have issues with gambling should be able to get groceries or gas without walking past these temptations. I think they should not be allowed anywhere but the casinos. And online gambling is going to be a huge problem and I don’t see how they are going to keep kids from doing it. I understand that the “contests” on Mr Beast that apparently require purchase to enter are already a problem.
OK, so a problem has been identified. What's the solution? I could be for education. I am not for "the government" deciding that they know better what's best for you than you do. Having said that, anyone honest has to acknowledge the problems that arise anywhere gambling is permitted.
As an aside, I'd rather see Alex tackling big pharma and government censorship than some new issue out of left field.
Wow, one more way to go broke, be ome addicted and kill yourself.
I started to list all of the vices and addictions I have managed to avoid, but I deleted it once I realized how boring I sound.
I've been bit hing off and on the past four years about being banned from X for no reason. I guess I should be grateful.
I first moved to Las Vegas in 1994. At that time, still had majority of pull handle slots. What drew so many people in were 'Cash your paycheck and get free spin of the wheel' promotions. So many people lost their paycheck and why Las Vegas was and will always be such a transient town.
So the question becomes, when does having the rights of adults curtailed because these adults cannot maintain composure? A question that can never be answered.
Perhaps never.
el gato malo has a Substack today as a matter of fact that might be relevant to your question:
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/age-assurance-as-the-trojan-horse
its the old slippery slope....I don't have a real problem with restricting rights for those under the age of 18, but adults have to make their own decisions...if they screw up, then you man up, pay the price, hopefully learn and then move on...
we do seem to have an epidemic of adults that act like children...'Mommy, you are going to come to my job interview with me, aren't you?'
Back in the 1990s I was with a friend playing roulette in a Casino in Reno. After I lost my $50 (why my friend liked roulette I can never tell you), as we were walking out I had 50 cents in my pocket and I put it into a nickel machine and won the jackpot. Nickels started pouring out of the machine. I grabbed a big cup and got most of them in it, but others were spilling out onto the floor. My friend and I picked them all up and lugged them over to the cashier, where they amounted to about $60. Now that experience was FUN. Seeing all those coins spilling out of the machine, that's true entertainment. That was the last time I played slot machines, though I've watched my mom play on some of the new video machines. I just don't it. There is no possibility of fun with these machines at all.
What gets me about this is that our government micromanages our lives in all kinds of ways supposedly to protect us from ourselves, because supposedly ordinary people can't make good decisions on their own about their lives--yet the same government has no problem allowing this kind of gambling to go on, and when people lose everything of value they have, the government just shrugs and says, oh, well, they made bad choices.
We had a boyfriend killed over video gambling. He wanted to go home, the wife wouldn’t stop. They got into an argument and told to leave the bar and she then shot her husband in the head as he was trying to get her to the car. Of course we knew him, not her and that’s the full story. The article glosses over the gambling aspect “for some reason).
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2022/11/portland-woman-accused-of-fatally-shooting-her-boyfriend-on-thanksgiving-court-documents-allege.html?outputType=amp