Thread

DraftKings is using AI to behaviorally target chronic gamblers

570 points · 432 comments · paimapi

tedivm · 1790700196 · focus · HN ↗
ProPublica had one of their reports work with gambling addition experts to see how DraftKings would respond to someone presenting signs of a gambling problem. It's a hell of a read, and makes it clear that this company is full of people with absolutely no ethics whatsoever.
<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/draftkings-sports-gambling-problem-vip-fanduel" rel="nofollow">https://www.propublica.org/article/draftkings-sports-gamblin...
1. WheelsAtLarge · 1790703876 · focus · HN ↗
  People in companies that are a negative public good are by definition unethical. I'm not surprised by anything they do. The real problem is how we've let these companies infiltrate so much of our society so fast. I can't consume any ad supported media without getting some ad about them. This company really defines the phrase "money talks"
  1. meowface · 1790707307 · focus · HN ↗
    Prediction markets seemed like a possible exception to the rule that anything to do with betting is always a scourge on the commons, but those companies quickly realized sports gambling is the best way to rake in cash, so they all converge on it.
    I am one of the very few people in the United States who actually does still earnestly believe prediction markets do in principle serve an immense social good that can't be provided in any other way: <a href="https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/prediction-market-faq" rel="nofollow">https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/prediction-market-faq
    Just, in practice, Polymarket and Kalshi are (unsurprisingl)y run by people who solely care about how much revenue they could ever possibly inhale.
    And everything else about them is so unethical and so destructive to the commons I would support them being metaphorically razed to the ground.
    Like, just the Kalshi and Polymarket Twitter accounts alone contribute more to disinformation (disinformation, not misinformation) than Alex Jones could ever dream of. And then all the accounts affiliated with them make it 1000x worse. And then they have so many other unbelievable scandals I'd have to write a wall of text to list them all. Tons of egregiously machiavellian, intelligence agency-tier tactics and operations.
    The only prediction markets that seem to be mostly upside with minimal downside are the ones that do not accept real money.
    watwut · 1790714500 · focus · HN ↗
    Prediction market is undistinguishable from unregulated gambling in literally all its aspects.
    meowface · 1790757191 · focus · HN ↗
    Gambling is for games of chance, while one can "beat the house" in prediction markets simply by being more intelligent, informed, and better at forecasting.
    At least for the non-random-like bets.
    watwut · 1790838895 · focus · HN ↗
    Nah, it is gambling. The "intelligent, informed, and better at forecasting is just an attempt to stroke peoples egos so that they gamble their money.
    You can beat the odds if you have insider information tho, so I give you "better informed" in that sense.

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