Sports betting has exploded across America, with a vast majority of states legalizing gambling in recent years. In fact, Americans gambled $150 billion through online sportsbooks last year. Far too many lost nearly everything. @RollingStone reports on the near-fatal consequences for a group of young men with a phone, app, and a growing addition:
gambling
Even when waiting in line at the grocery store you’ll be looking at lootboxes or lootbags in this case
And yes Pokémon card packs are the same thing back in the days
Kids don’t stand a chance
UK #gambling regulator accuses #Meta of lying about its struggle to spot illegal ads - https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/20/uk_gambling_comission_criticizes_meta/ "Labels Zuck’s ad library ‘a window into criminality’ and the Social Network as ‘happy to turn a blind eye’" so do something
A big shout-out to @gbhnews for another incredible podcast series! I'm midway through "Scratch & Win", which documents the meteoric rise of the Massachusetts State Lottery, and it's pure nerd catnip: organized crime, gambling, power, machine politics, combinatorics, computer science history! I can't believe the interviews they managed to get (and that the closing song is sung by the former state treasurer). All props to the production and editing team. Ian, Isabel, Lacy, and everyone involved should be really proud. Waiting for the inevitable HBO miniseries!
https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/scratch-win
Quote from episode 1 transcript:
The Massachusetts Lottery had already rejected nearly twenty prototypes by the time they settled on a final design -- the one with the paper flaps. Only to have John Koza, this recently graduated wiz kid with a dimpled chin and a combover, show up and tell them it was flawed. So on the spot they made a deal. Koza could take home 50 tickets and do his best to prove they could be hacked.
#MApoli #Massachusetts #History #Lottery #Gambling #math #podcast #PublicRadio #GBH #PRX
"Through her research, she uncovered four key features that, when combined together, help hold people on the gambling devices. These features trigger a trancelike or dissociative state, known as a "machine zone" or "dark flow," in which people lose track of their sense of time and place.
"To Schüll's surprise, around the early 2010s, the same features began to appear on phone and tablet apps, including social media, games and video-streaming platforms. "These are not normal products for kids like a pair of shoes or a toy," she says. "They create a relationship with kids."
"Here are four features that create that superglue…"
#addiction #gambling #SocialMedia #screens
https://www.npr.org/2026/04/21/nx-s1-5776665/surprising-origin-features-superglue-kids-adults-to-screens
New YT video is up!
My topic this week is about Polymarket using fake viral influencer videos in order to build up hype for their platform, as well as touching on the budding regulation of prediction markets and dangers of gambling on these platforms.
If you enjoy the video, please take a moment to give it a like. This is a great, free way to help a small creator.
#YouTube #Gambling #PredictionMarkets #Polymarket #Technology #Video #SocialMedia