1. Predatory, unethical exploitation of addicts
- tedivm: “ProPublica … makes it clear that this company is full of people with absolutely no ethics whatsoever.”
- jimbo808: “I believe this applies to any company which sells an inherently harmful, predatory, and addictive product or service.”
2. Need for stricter regulation and harm‑reduction measures
- SoftTalker: “Hope you're including all the state governments and their lotteries in this assessment.”
- shipman05: “Permit lotteries. Ban lottery advertising. A moral government shouldn't advertise products known to be harmful to the public.”
3. Gambling’s addictive design and use of AI/dark patterns to target vulnerable users
- garbageman: “Gambling is absolutely inherently addictive as it's essentially perfectly paired with your brains reward system and hijacks it. There's literally dopamine cycle and tolerance happening.”
- trjordan: “They'll always do this. … Finds the most lucrative customers, to keep engaging them. - Finds addicted gamblers, to get them help to quit gambling. These are the same people.”
4. State‑run lotteries viewed as a regressive tax that burdens the poor
- bigfishrunning: “State lotteries are just a regressive tax targeting the poor.”
- tuvix: “State lotteries are just a regressive tax targeting the poor.”
5. Tension between personal agency/free will and societal responsibility for gambling harms
- goatlover: “Problem is when it effects others. Addicts often have families. There's also a social cost when they go broke and lose everything.”
- sneak: “There are those of us that believe that it is a gross violation of one's human rights to dictate how they're allowed to spend the money that they earned.”