Our next door neighbor hung himself in his basement because he had a huge gambling addiction with slot machines and lost a lot of money.
His son found him.
Gambling should be treated like tabaco, don’t allow them to advertise or sponsor events, only practiced in dedicated areas. Regulate the living crap out of it.
Government running lotteries and using the money for something good for the masses is so much better than letting bookies run their businesses.
Gambling has an appeal to some people. Others never feel the need to buy a ticket. Both are equally respected, valid members of society.
Religious folks often have an objection to gambling for dogmatic reasons. They don’t get to ban the fun for everyone else just because they feel they have all the divine solutions to humanity’s problems. Regulate the crap out of it though.
I’m not saying ban gambling, but it seems like in the past decade the amount of ads for gambling has exploded, and apps coming into existence making it available at all times is ridiculous. Not to mention it ruined sports commentary for me. I do gamble from time to time, but the pushers turn me off of it.
100%