Thread

1. ecshafer · 1790700742 · focus · HN ↗

   Legalizing sports betting and online gambling was such a massive mistake. They are sleazy immoral industries that profit on suffering.

   1. jimt1234 · 1790703023 · focus · HN ↗

      In my lifetime I've witnessed America accept new revenue sources by relaxing the moral code. First, it was allowing businesses to be open on Sunday. Then it was allowing liquor sales on Sunday. Then it was liquor ads on television. Then it was very controlled, state-run gambling (the lottery). Then it was casino gambling. Now it's online gambling and 'prediction markets'. Then it was recreational marijuana use. And so on. My point of reference is Missouri, where I grew up, but I think most states have followed a pretty similar path, all in search of new sources of revenue. I predict this trend will continue all the way to prostitution. Yes, that sounds crazy, but if you would've told me in the early-80s that Missouri would have casinos and legal weed, I would've considered that crazy.

      1. triceratops · 1790703643 · focus · HN ↗

         I think legalizing cannabis was more about not jailing people for consuming a plant.

         It's hard to respect a legal system that jails someone who wasn't hurting anyone. Repealing a law that criminalizes victimless behavior, especially when so many people already break it, paradoxically increases respect for other laws. It reinforces that the law serves a purpose: protecting people and promoting the general welfare.

         1. ecshafer · 1790706401 · focus · HN ↗

            There is no such thing as a victimless crime. Smoking marijuana has many many victims. I have personally seen enough people that smoked themselves stupid or into poverty that it hard for me to see it as a victimless crime. The issue was always that that laws and punishments were too lax.

            1. triceratops · 1790707054 · focus · HN ↗

               > I have personally seen enough people that smoked themselves stupid or into poverty

               We mostly don't criminalize self-harm. Is it really better for those people to be in prison, with violent criminals, and have a record, than be stupid or poor from too much smoking? Who does that help?

               Drunk people get into accidents and fights and even commit murder. Cannabis users mostly stay home and snack. And yet we don't lock up people for buying a six-pack.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.