How the Sports Betting Industry Quietly Consumed America

Writing by Sam Denby and Tristan Purdy
Editing by Alexander Williard
Animation led by Josh Sherrington
Sound by Graham Haerther
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster

References

[kogn]

The fact that universities have taken sports betting advertising and even sending shit to their students is straight up criminal. that should absolutely not be allowed.

[LucasSChiefsLightning]

As someone who's had very serious trouble with online gambling in the past: Never gamble. I don't care if it's for $5 or $500. Anyone can be sucked in too deep. Literally anybody. Please be careful if you do.

[cityabsurdia]

It's absolutely mind blowing to me that politicians receiving gifts from corporations is not considered grounds for dismissal and criminal prosecution. That is the biggest factor compromising democracy in the modern day. Why do we accept it?

[amFlea]

I'm an Australian, the other day I said to my work colleagues that I didn't want to buy into the lotto, only to be accused of being un-Australian and having all my coworkers try and peer pressure me into buying into gambling. It is crazy how natural it is here. A lot of smaller parties and newer politicians are trying to start anti gambling laws but are having no success with it.

[suparki]

There is an Australian Youtuber called Friendly Jordies, who posted an interview with a whistle-blower explaining how ClubsNSW (a major gambling company here) uses slot machines to allow for money laundering by the black market. Friendly Jordies is now facing jail time for "defaming" ClubsNSW. This is the first time that I've ever seen any journalist in Australia being prosecuted for posting a video, and it's kinda scary how powerful the gambling industry truly is here.

[Loreignss]

I was an addiction counsellor for a few years and gambling addiction is always the most nefarious. You get a dopamine spike whether you win or lose, its accessible at all times, becoming more socially acceptable and very very easy to hide early on. Between the brain activity that occurs, with the gamification on our phones, lack of seriousness the public lends it, and no similar symptoms to other addictions (withdrawals/smelling like drug) it will absolutely turn into a big problem down the road.

[Backwardmail]

Gambling in Australia is so ingrained into the culture. It's almost impossible to convince many people that it's a problem. I tried to talk to one uncle about it and he accused me of being un-Australian. Entering the lottery and betting on sports is a central part of many people's routines and daily lives.

[Zei]

I’m glad you covered Australia. It’s an absolute horror. My dad is a lifetime gambling addict. Never had any food in the house but plenty of money to spend on the dogs, the horses or the pokies.

[larryfine]

My mom was a highly awarded school teacher for 40+ years. She was a daily Champion on Jeopardy TV show. She still doesn’t and never drank but once she moved to Arkansas near casinos in Oklahoma she gambled away Everything on slot machines. She is back teaching at 83 to avoid homelessness. She is one of the smartest nicest people you can meet. I run into people all the time who Love her and she changed their lives in positive ways but she very sadly lost my dad and her retirement because of legal gambling. I’m trying to help her but it’s very difficult. Thank you for making this video 😢

[marcusmoonstein]

When I took my first statistics course at university the lecturer used gambling games to illustrate the main concepts. We started with coin tosses, moved on to one and then two dice roles, and then roulette probabilities. In EVERY case the house had an edge - basically the longer you played the more money you were going to loose. One statistician even described gambling as a voluntary tax paid by people who don't understand statistics!

[danbadenko]

I actually worked in the Crown Melbourne casino while I lived in Australia. That experience was honestly shocking. I worked in FOH in the Food & Beverage department and would get called into any one of the 80+ different restaurants/bars.

These would be anything from casual buffets to 5-star fine-dining. Some were directly on the gaming floor while others had street access.

Crown wasn't just a casino, it had everything from family restaurants, clubs, cocktail bars, massive banquet halls and even 3 hotels, so people of all ages would be around you, many not even there for the gambling.

Regardless of why you were there, you'd always be pretty close to the gaming floor, and it was the star of the show.

On the regular gaming floor, I worked the booze carts, offering refreshments to anyone who wanted some buy while playing (many folks a good few drinks in).

But I also worked in many of the VIP lounges, these would be open to players with certian levels of spend, and included countless comped items. The higher the spend, the better the perks. Some lounges with have full steak dinners, with premium booze.

The shocking thing was that people would literally spend DAYS at the same machine. And when I worked at other venues on the main gaming floor, you would see people crying or looking devistated at 3AM, eating the cheapest comped meal. Sometimes you'd struck up conversations with guests, and you'd realize how far gone they were. Shit like 'you came with my drink at exactly 3:33, that's good luck'.

We were trained for these situations, but it was still incredibly jarring.

After working there, I had no desire to ever gamble.

[jonathancrawley]

This is such a brilliant episode. I had no idea that gambling was so restricted in the US. Here in the UK there are literally thousands of betting shops, in every town, and the online casinos through app stores are destroying lives whilst creating offshore non taxable income for their owners. Timely, well researched and provoking.

[raijin]

My fathers sports gambling addiction got so bad my parents couldn't pay the mortgage and lost the house. My mother divorced him, took me and my siblings with her and we lived in poverty for years. Fortunatly my father stopped betting and got his life back together but not before his addiction broke my family. We have since reconciled but It has left me we a fear and distain for gambaling. In the last decade this problem with gambling (especially mobile) has become so much worse, I dread to think how many more people have or will have an experience like ours. Never gamble, if you think "that wouldn't happen to me" you are the easiest mark there is. Gambling companies are predators, you are the pray. And lets not ignore the prevalence of gambling mechanics in video games, Completely unregulated and aimed at the youngest people priming them for mobile gambling addiction as adults.

[comiccammy]

As an Australian I was sitting here listening to the American experience thinking "man that's nothing compared to what we have here". Then BAM, Australia being named and shamed haha

[SkiDaBird]

I live in one of the US states with largely legalized gambling, and I work in risk at a local credit union. It's not a rare occurrence that the algorithm flags an account for fraud due to repeat transactions, and when I take a look, someone has written multiple checks to a casino in one night or repeatedly hit their ATM limit trying to play more. I've seen normal people, making normal money in an expensive town, lose over $50, 000 in a month just at local bars and casinos. I generally believe adults should be able to do what they like with their life, but I can't understand how computer algorithms designed to extract as much money from someone are legal.

[hwilliams]

Aussie here, my two stories of the pokies:
- Large pub in my relatively small country town had its pokies stolen in the mid 2000's (rumoured to be an inside job) closed it's doors less than a year later.
- My mate works at a venue that holds it's liquor license till only 2am. However, the venue stays till 6am for you guessed it: the pokies
Poker machines literally are the venue at many establishments across Aus, the bar is in many cases a mere attachment.
I knew Aus had a gambling issue but this video put it into perspective

[Yognaughto]

Inducements are so crazy to me: winning 1k that can’t be withdrawn is basically built to get you addicted.

[marystarnes]

I’m a money laundering investigator for a bank. I’ve seen people lose ridiculous amounts of money through sports betting while looking through transaction histories. It’s really sad.

[Black_Dollarz]

Never been a gambler and I’m absolutely surprised how much sports gambling is being pushed

[LlywellynOBrien]

As an Australian I am very glad that you made this. The gambling lobby is incredibly powerful here, and they regularly exert this to protect themselves. Over the last few years they have been shown to be deeply complicit in incredibly serious organised crime, as well as indirectly allowing money to flow off shore to fund drug cartels, terrorists and industrial child sexual abuse. Despite this they barely take a hit in the media, and politicians who are willing to speak up are routinely attacked.

As a young man with two psychologists for parents, I have both seen and heard of the wreckage that this stuff can unleash in people's lives. I deeply hope that the US doesn't follow our lead on this!