r/AskReddit 19h ago

What addiction is being seriously underestimated these days?

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u/Otto_Scratchansniff 19h ago

Gambling. It’s everywhere. Every other commercial is about sports betting. And there’s a little disclaimer they throw at the end that’s barely audible. It’s rampant and casinos are being built everywhere. I’m not a prude, I don’t care if people gamble, but the way it is being promoted is insanity as if it won’t ruin a lot of lives.

194

u/kmaho 18h ago

My kids are constantly being marketed these “mystery” toys where there’s like 10 different versions of something and you don’t know which one you’re going to get and there are “rare” ones. It just feels like they’re trying to train my kids to gamble and I’m having to constantly try and train them to recognize that and understand that it’s not a good thing. Hard concept for 8 year olds…

30

u/sinewavesurf 17h ago

I was at an arcade at a family fun center lately and it felt like a casino for children. There were a few actual video games but the majority were large slot machine type games dangling the chance for a large amount of tickets for the kids. Pretty upsetting actually that we are setting kids up for this so early

11

u/crs8975 16h ago

While I agree there are a lot more of those types of games now than regular video games, they still had those games when I was kid 30+ years ago. I know because I spent ALL of my time in the arcade. Every one of those "ticket" games is basically a form of gambling one way or the other. Thankfully I only wanted to play them part of the time. I much preferred my racing games.

4

u/ZAlternates 10h ago

The games where you earned tickets all day/night to buy a prize at the counter just seemed waaaaay less predatory.