Thread

ER visits for gambling disorders doubled after expanded online gambling market

164 points · 157 comments · geox

whatever1 · 1789584798 · focus · HN ↗
All gambling should be state owned. It is a strict societal loss anyway, we can at least soften the overall blow.
Losses can be redistributed and cover for the externalities of gambling. And we will be able to control the knob on how addictive we make them.
For profit companies have the target to maximize their profit, so of course they will ramp up any method that can bring in more revenue.
1. pstuart · 1789585485 · focus · HN ↗
  Pretty much agree. But even then, the state should not be incentivizing its use (looking you, CA lottery and friends).
  Gambling is a drug, and should be recognized as such.
  1. ffsm8 · 1789587463 · focus · HN ↗
    Adrenaline is the drug, ain't it ... And gambling is just one way to leverage it.
    However once you realize that gambling is not the drug, and merely something that triggers your body to create a rush... Then can you really call it a drug? At least any more then any other of those activities?
    Eg Skydiving and basically any other extreme sports.
    And once you're there, you should really realize that it's not worth the sacrifice.
    This is a societal issue and should not be addressed with legislation.
    The only thing that can be safely regulated are things like disallowing marketing.
    nrb · 1789588583 · focus · HN ↗
    Dopamine, and many drugs trigger it in the same way as gambling.
    toomuchtodo · 1789588952 · focus · HN ↗
    We should try GLP-1s. It patches the brain's reward center.
    GLP-1 drugs may fight addiction across every major substance - <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47280797">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47280797 - March 2026
    GLP-1 medications get at the heart of addiction: study - <a href="https://medicine.washu.edu/news/glp-1-medications-get-at-the-heart-of-addiction-study/" rel="nofollow">https://medicine.washu.edu/news/glp-1-medications-get-at-the... - March 4th, 2026
    <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45907422">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45907422 (citations)
    There is a fentanyl vaccine approaching human trials, but I don't believe its mechanism works close enough to the reward center. Maybe gene therapy is a long term fix as it relates to the reward center dysfunction, to be determined.
    HN Search: fentanyl vaccine - <a href="https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=fentanyl%20vaccine&sort=byDate&type=story" rel="nofollow">https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
    Resetting the Brain’s Reward Pathway: Gene Therapy’s Breakthrough in Alcohol Addiction - <a href="https://scitechdaily.com/resetting-the-brains-reward-pathway-gene-therapys-breakthrough-in-alcohol-addiction/" rel="nofollow">https://scitechdaily.com/resetting-the-brains-reward-pathway... - August 20th, 2023
    mrguyorama · 1789591953 · focus · HN ↗
    I have recently found the following article interesting:
    <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOSB" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOSB
    Specifically the part where a variant of this protein seems directly implicated in the specific self upregulation that leads to changes in the brains reward pathways that seem to directly cause the sort of "Drug seeking" and other addiction seeking behaviors that are so harmful in addiction.
    I especially love the part where we tried inhibiting this protein expression with simple chemicals administered orally in rats and it significantly improved their addictions, and we did that in 2015, and we have not touched it since
    Gosh, wouldn't it just be the best if we had spent $4 trillion on bioscience instead of GPUs? I feel like we understand circuits pretty well by comparison.
    mitxela · 1789603923 · focus · HN ↗
    That's crazy that the whole reward system might just come down to one protein and how long you crave another reward is literally just the time until that protein decays.
    [deleted] · 1789589168 · focus · HN ↗
    [deleted]
    elil17 · 1789590298 · focus · HN ↗
    Why wouldn't it be addressed with legislation? What is legislation for if not to solve societal issues?
    Also, gambling is empirically much more addictive and leads to worse outcomes than extreme sports - hence why many feel it needs to be limited.
    cortesoft · 1789591094 · focus · HN ↗
    How do we determine at what point something is “too addictive” to be allowed?
    There are many people who can gamble responsibly and enjoy it. I love playing poker, and play in a tournament every few years. Lots of people are compulsive gamblers, though, and lose it all.
    Do I have to give up my hobby because some people can’t handle it?
    What about drinking? I enjoy a happy hour once a month or so, and have a couple of drinks when I do. Others drink 10+ drinks a month. Do we ban it because of the people who can’t stop? (We know how well that works)
    I am not saying we do nothing, but I don’t think it is as easy as “just pass legislation”
    fragmede · 1789591608 · focus · HN ↗
    We know how full 100% alcohol prohibition in 1920's worked in the USA, but what's missing is that it doesn't have to be a full 100% for it to benefit society. Laws restricting sales, like no selling alcohol past a certain hour, or on Sundays, still exist on the books in many places, and while I can't speak to how well they actually work, given that we'd just stock up on Saturdays anyway, there's also no Al Capone levels of violence in places with those restrictions. So let's not say "we know how that goes" hinting at 1920's prohibition, which was over a century ago now, and just leave it at that.
    For a counter example, I like driving fast. Really fast. Should I be banned from doing that because other people can't handle that responsibly? Society has looked at that and decided that, yes, no one should be allowed to do that on public streets. So I keep that behavior to the race track and sign an extra liability waiver in order to do so.
    Why should gambling or alcohol be treated different from that?
    tonyarkles · 1789592667 · focus · HN ↗
    > Society has looked at that and decided that, yes, no one should be allowed to do that on public streets. So I keep that behavior to the race track and sign an extra liability waiver in order to do so.
    So can I still drink and gamble in private if I sign a waiver?
    pstuart · 1789594245 · focus · HN ↗
    Sorry, but alcohol prohibition did not work and was instrumental in fueling the rise of organized crime (does that ring any bells?).
    I happen to believe the War on Drugs (prohibition v2) is an even bigger mistake than the first one, which also ignores why it came to be: v1 prohibition enforcers needed something to do and there was a growing problems with an "uppity" segment of society that needed to be put in its place. The history of it is horrifying; and the current implementation of it is horrifying as well.
    So legalize it all. Regulate the advertisement/promotion/access/purity, etc. It's going to happen one way or another and pushing it into the shadows only makes it worse.
    So let the gambling happen but keep it on a short leash.
    triceratops · 1789598354 · focus · HN ↗
    > Sorry, but alcohol prohibition did not work
    That's what GP said too, albeit poorly.
    ikr678 · 1789622714 · focus · HN ↗
    What would a gambling liability waiver cover? Your losses/damages are not in a confined circuit or ringfenced from your general finances. Are you just agreeing not to sue if you lose your house/wife/job?
    elil17 · 1789713768 · focus · HN ↗
    If all you're saying is that it needs the right legislation/thoughtful legislation and not just a blanket ban, then I guess I agree. The base of this thread was someone saying that all gambling should be state owned, which seems like a reasonable thing to me.
    thenayr · 1789590395 · focus · HN ↗
    [dead]
    pstuart · 1789593963 · focus · HN ↗
    I was playing fast and loose with the word, but you know what I meant.
    I'm all for individuals to choose their own paths and mistakes and don't want a true nanny state, so I'd be ok with banning advertising of those services, as well as independent audits to ensure that they are not letting minors in.
    bothers · 1789601321 · focus · HN ↗
    [dead]
  2. mitxela · 1789603512 · focus · HN ↗
    Social media is also a drug. So is television.
    cindyllm · 1789614001 · focus · HN ↗
    [dead]

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