zlacker

Legalising it? No.

Normalising it? Yes.

Unfortunately, our culture seems to have two settings: legal ban; full celebratory embrace. We don’t seem to be able to handle tolerating and discouraging (see smoking, which is slowly being banned across the once-civilised world).

Should the awesome power of the State be deployed to wield violence against people who bet money on sports? No, that’s insane. Should there be half a dozen betting ads every hour on primetime TV? No, that’s crazy too.

>>eadmun+(OP)
>> Unfortunately, our culture seems to have two settings: legal ban; full celebratory embrace.

If something is legally banned, there's generally a black market for it. Once it's legalized, the bar for consumers to enter the market is nearly eliminated; large companies can pour a ton of money into gaining new users in the legal market and moving users from the black market to the legal market.

>> Should there be half a dozen betting ads every hour on primetime TV? No, that’s crazy too.

It's even worse than that. There are betting ads during the actual game broadcast. Commentators read ads listing various odds on the current game. Betting companies sponsor a ton of stuff related to the teams and leagues. ESPN (Disney) both broadcasts games and runs its own sportsbook. You can't watch a sports game without hearing about betting on that game itself, much less sports in general.

>>eadmun+(OP)
Prior to legalized sports betting, was "state violence" used against people who bet on sports as a casual hobby? It seems like it was basically tolerated as long as it was kept amongst friends/coworkers, etc.

>>stevie+zr
Not the bettors as much as the organizations facilitating it.

>>stevie+zr
> Prior to legalized sports betting, was "state violence" used against people who bet on sports as a casual hobby?

Yes: Sal Culosi was shot and killed by police in Virginia for wagering more than $2,000: https://reason.com/2011/01/17/justice-for-sal/

I am certain that there are more — that’s just one which leaps to mind.

>>eadmun+(OP)
This is specifically about something that is very addictive. Moderation was never a likely outcome.

>>eadmun+GA
You left out that the officer who shot and killed him did so by accident during the arrest. The police are not out there killing people "for" betting as you said.

https://web.archive.org/web/20110615051217/http://www.foxnew...