The NHL embracing sports gambling was a major mistake

[FriendlyGhost92]

maybe if you are getting an education off tiktok.

I mean, this was happening before TikTok was even a thing, but sure.

... And sadly yes, a lot of the age demographic that was buying into that shit at the time gets their education from TikTok.

 

[Sorry]

"Never spend more than you can afford to lose."
Sounds simple, right? Not for those who have struggled with pathological gambling addiction, of whom I work with many.
Biggest problem for youth is the accessibility - you're right about casinos. You can now find 100+ markets on Venezuelan 3rd division soccer at the tap of an iphone...

The bolded part, I sort of agree with but skins are a determined outcome. You pay for something certain (even if you and I might not think it worthwhile). The far bigger issues are with the likes of EA where you pay to open packs with non-predetermined outcomes. That's the absolute definition gambling; it's dangerous, it's entirely unregulated and its creating a generation of young people desensitised to it, and will spawn many more with gambling addictions.

I should have said loot boxes instead of skins. You're 100% right that at least with a skin, you know what you're getting.

But yeah, we are definitely on the same page that the youth has been conditioned to throw money at applications. My goddaughter was kind of upset last time I bought her a present because I used to just give her $50 roblox currency and she was expecting that instead of the hat I bought her.

 

[Sorry]

So… no one is an adult anymore? It’s up to companies to not advertise and make sure the “youth” understand to not gamble?

I hate it all, don’t get me wrong, but this whole “protect people from themselves” thing is ridiculous.

When I used to smoke I had the flavored cigarettes I enjoyed outlawed because they we supposedly geared towards children. Now they sell ice cream flavored liquor, tropical flavored nitrous, and video games have purchasable mystery boxes.

 

[JPT]

I'll admit I'm not the most worldly guy, maybe smoking more prevalent than I realize. I know more people that don't smoke than do. I also know people on weird fad diets and making other health related decisions good or bad, that I assume wasn't because they saw it during a hockey game.

I think there was a massive drop off in smokers once word spread just how bad it is because it's not particularly obvious... like losing all your money in a night or killing someone drinking and driving. And since then it's just more the circles you run with than ads on TV. Probably like most things. Though I have no numbers to back it up, just my gut. Take it or leave it.

As a former smoker who quit a long time ago and has had a chance to look back, it would have been obvious to me in the middle of my first cigarette that it wasn't good for me even if I hadn't already gained that knowledge beforehand. Typically things that are good for you don't make you short of breath and lightheaded. However, didn't care about those things because I was young, not particularly concerned about my future, and wanted to fit in with a particular crowd in a music scene. I also wanted cigarette breaks at work like the other managers lol.

Therein lies the problem, though. The younger you are, the less likely you are to consider consequences, particularly long-term consequences. That's just a fact of brain development. It's also why it's so hard to steer kids in the right direction, and why it is necessary to have more protections than just the parents.

 

[elmaco]

Don't read social media, simple as that.

 

[Silky Johnson]

There's a difference between gambling being allowed, and gambling being baked into the product you're watching and shoved down the audience's throat at every turn. It's not a hard distinction to make at all

Then don't watch, or don't gamble. If enough of you do, the market will correct.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Then don't watch, or don't gamble. If enough of you do, the market will correct.

That’s the problem, fans want to watch, like they always have.
But they don’t want to see updates every face-off, and part of the telecast.

If they want to have a 30 minute preview show prior to the game, that discusses it, do it that way.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

That’s the problem, fans want to watch, like they always have.
But they don’t want to see updates every face-off, and part of the telecast.

If they want to have a 30 minute preview show prior to the game, that discusses it, do it that way.

But you'll watch anyways even with the gambling ads , sounds like its free money for the NHL , how are you gonna fight that?

Then don't watch, or don't gamble. If enough of you do, the market will correct.

Lets just write paragraphs and paragraphs on hfboards that will take em down! While the NHL and bet99 rack up a few other hundred millions in the meantime

 

[Silky Johnson]

Gamble all you want, just don’t tell me what the updated live odds are, on an offside whistle.

Just don't pay attention to it. Check your phone, talk to your significant other or something else... it's just not a big deal.

 

[Lshap]

Just don't pay attention to it. Check your phone, talk to your significant other or something else... it's just not a big deal.

Passively looking away and pretending something isn't there has always been a great way to address social issues.

 

[Silky Johnson]

Passively looking away and pretending something isn't there has always been a great way to address social issues.

I was responding to a poster who's point was not being against gambling but not liking the odds updates...

If you are morally opposed to it, your are free to boycott, skip the parts you don't like or put up with it. Otherwise, stop telling people what to do.

 

[Lshap]

I was responding to a poster who's point was not being against gambling but not liking the odds updates...

If you are morally opposed to it, your are free to boycott, skip the parts you don't like or put up with it. Otherwise, stop telling people what to do.

Would you say the same if there were ad banners running non-stop throughout TV shows? Or jerseys were covered with ads like they are overseas? Or if your neighbour blasts his music all night? Ignoring an issue isn't always the best response.

You're trying to spin this into a morality issue when most people simply dislike the sheer volume of gambling ads throughout the broadcast. Sports betting has been around forever; how many threads complained about gambling before two years ago?

As for disliking being told what to do, you realize that's what gambling ads are literally doing.

 

[NotCommitted]

The amount of gambling adds is pretty overwhelming at times, and the "make every game exciting" angle they take is a bit uhm... it would be interesting to see where the profits come from and how big the share from people with gambling problem is proportionally. I mean genuinely interesting, I have no idea what it actually is.

In Finland advertising of gambling is prohibited, but there is/was a state owned company that holds monopoly on gambling and slot machines etc. It used to be so almost every grocery store would have a slot machine. For most people it was harmless fun, you buy your groceries and get your change, then dump all the small coins into the machine as you are leaving, ofc usually you'd lose that small money, but sometimes you'd win. It was kind of fun. But it also used to be a thing you'd see that same old timer every day sitting on that machine, at least early in the month when they had just got their pension...

Anyway the upside of that system (that's falling apart because of internet) is that the profits from gambling go to things that are considered common good, I think mostly youth sports and the like.

A lot of those slot machines are gone, and I don't remember the last time I played one, probably like 10 years ago. These days they require a card or something for identification, I'm not sure how exactly it works, like I said it's been a long time...

 

[willy702]

I mean in an ideal state, yes the gaming commission and the casinos operate separately from each other and the commission makes sure the casinos are operating on the up and up. Unfortunately, years of bribes, kickbacks, and heavy lobbying have meant that many members of the commission are outright bought by the casinos and operate to do their bidding.

If anyone thought you knew anything, you'd get sued for libel saying this. Gaming commissions do not get bribes or kickbacks, heck you can't even buy them lunch. Politicians are the ones that get all this special attention and while no one seems to like it, we've been told by the US Supreme Court it's their god given right to receive such benefits because freedom of speech or something like it.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

Gamble all you want, just don’t tell me what the updated live odds are, on an offside whistle.

Exactly. Just get rid of the in-game ads.

 

[The Panther]

Also I'm talking about like, welcoming kids into the game and getting them immersed into how it flows, how to read plays. I'm not gonna stick my daughter in front of a f***ing regional sports network fantasy sports hour with Flopsweat Larry and Dan "the Shark" Dumbasski or some shit like that. Might as well give her some lead paint to chew on.

This is it, exactly. I live in Japan, watch games on NHL.TV (when it's working), and saw my son turned 6 yesterday. He's vaguely aware that I like hockey and cheer for Edmonton, but he knows nothing else. I'm not going to sit down and watch a live feed with him, ever, because I don't want him to sit through gambling ads as if they're normal.

So, that's one more fan the NHL just lost for the future.

 

[MadLuke]

As for disliking being told what to do, you realize that's what gambling ads are literally doing.

That sound like a stretch, ads propose a service, does not tell you what to do.

I should have said loot boxes instead of skins.

Hockey cards (or magic the gathering type) were quite similar in that regards, loot box, I can imagine the difference:

- they were less good and fun than those video game are ? (never played but I would imagine)
- does not make you spend actual money you had on you for it like we did back in the days, but in game currency that was bought with a credit card creating many mental separations
- you do it from your couch-phone, reducing the friction as well and it is open 24-24, 365 days a year, no human (clerk) seeing you have a problem and judging you to face and so on, a kid would have never spend $5000 on hockey card during a week stealing the parent credit card back in the days, the craving was not nearly and all those step would have ring bells
- does not take physical space, so how much you did spend is less obvious (for your parents and even for you)

 

[Lshap]

That sound like a stretch, ads propose a service, does not tell you what to do.

Most ads include a "Call To Action", which is marketing-speak for telling viewers what to do. Gambling ads might include something like, "Download the App!", "Get In The Game!", "Play For Your Hometown!", etc. The payoff of the ad focuses on the viewer taking action by downloading/betting/signing up.

A well-written ad will make you want something, then tell you what to do in order to get it.

 

[Derailed75]

Most ads include a "Call To Action", which is marketing-speak for telling viewers what to do. Gambling ads might include something like, "Download the App!", "Get In The Game!", "Play For Your Hometown!", etc. The payoff of the ad focuses on the viewer taking action by downloading/betting/signing up.

A well-written ad will make you want something, then tell you what to do in order to get it.

You have to have some kind of interest in what the ad is pushing. As a man I will never buy a tampon regardless of how well written the ad is.

 

[Lshap]

You have to have some kind of interest in what the ad is pushing. As a man I will never buy a tampon regardless of how well written the ad is.

Of course. No ad targets 100% of viewers. I'm an old guy who never gambled, so gambling ads will never generate any response other than to annoy the shit out of me. However, gambling ads are converting plenty of people into new customers, which is why online casinos continue spending so much money on them.

 

[JPT]

You have to have some kind of interest in what the ad is pushing. As a man I will never buy a tampon regardless of how well written the ad is.

Oh no shit? That's wild.

 

[Derailed75]

Oh no shit? That's wild.

The comments in here make it seem like no one has the free will and the will power to deny these "terrible adds". I don't gamble and I also don't really give a shit what adds play during the time I watch TV. I take personal responsibility for my actions ( when I smoked, it was my fault not the fault of a cartoon or an add department)

 

[JPT]

The comments in here make it seem like no one has the free will and the will power to deny these "terrible adds". I don't gamble and I also don't really give a shit what adds play during the time I watch TV. I take personal responsibility for my actions ( when I smoked, it was my fault not the fault of a cartoon or an add department)

Only if you read the comments and then construct a strawman by claiming things like "the comments in here make is seem like no one has the free will and the will power to deny these 'terrible adds [sic].'"

That's good that you don't have a gambling problem and don't care about the ads. That doesn't mean that gambling isn't an addictive activity that can lead to more issues than it is worth just to maintain some false sense of laissez-faire market economics, nor does it mean it's an ethical thing for sports leagues, who often times place strict rules on who in their leagues can gamble and on what, to advertise gambling "services" for some extra money. Your position does not put an end to the discussion.

 

[ps241]

Would you say the same if there were ad banners running non-stop throughout TV shows? Or jerseys were covered with ads like they are overseas? Or if your neighbour blasts his music all night? Ignoring an issue isn't always the best response.

You're trying to spin this into a morality issue when most people simply dislike the sheer volume of gambling ads throughout the broadcast. Sports betting has been around forever; how many threads complained about gambling before two years ago?

As for disliking being told what to do, you realize that's what gambling ads are literally doing.

Most ads include a "Call To Action", which is marketing-speak for telling viewers what to do. Gambling ads might include something like, "Download the App!", "Get In The Game!", "Play For Your Hometown!", etc. The payoff of the ad focuses on the viewer taking action by downloading/betting/signing up.

A well-written ad will make you want something, then tell you what to do in order to get it.

Of course. No ad targets 100% of viewers. I'm an old guy who never gambled, so gambling ads will never generate any response other than to annoy the shit out of me. However, gambling ads are converting plenty of people into new customers, which is why online casinos continue spending so much money on them.

Passively looking away and pretending something isn't there has always been a great way to address social issues.

I am also an old guy that doesn’t gamble. I agree with most of what you are saying but what is your suggestion for NHL fans that find it annoying? You say you find it annoying so how have you dealt with it?

 

[Xerloris]

if a person cant grasp the concept that the coffee they ordered is hot they need mental help.

• McDonald’s operations manual required the franchisee to hold its coffee at 180 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Coffee at that temperature, if spilled, causes third-degree burns in three to seven seconds.
• The chairman of the department of mechanical engineering and biomechanical engineering at the University of Texas testified that this risk of harm is unacceptable, as did a widely recognized expert on burns, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Burn Care and Rehabilitation, the leading scholarly publication in the specialty.
• McDonald’s admitted it had known about the risk of serious burns from its scalding hot coffee for more than 10 years. The risk had repeatedly been brought to its attention through numerous other claims and suits.
• An expert witness for the company testified that the number of burns was insignificant compared to the billions of cups of coffee the company served each year.
• At least one juror later told the Wall Street Journal she thought the company wasn’t taking the injuries seriously. To the corporate restaurant giant those 700 injury cases caused by hot coffee seemed relatively rare compared to the millions of cups of coffee served. But, the juror noted, “there was a person behind every number and I don’t think the corporation was attaching enough importance to that.”
• McDonald’s quality assurance manager testified that McDonald’s coffee, at the temperature at which it was poured into Styrofoam cups, was not fit for consumption because it would burn the mouth and throat.
• McDonald’s admitted at trial that consumers were unaware of the extent of the risk of serious burns from spilled coffee served at McDonald’s then-required temperature.
• McDonald’s admitted it did not warn customers of the nature and extent of this risk and could offer no explanation as to why it did not.