No, spend is right. The number being compared against is the amount spent on gambling. Obviously some of those bets won, so the amount lost would be far less.
All fair points. I just object to people breathlessly putting out stories like this as if it’s a good thing and anything other than gambling at best, and insider trading at worst. The only people winning on those sites are the people with inside information.
In other words, the average American adult placed roughly $1,000 in legal bets on sports last year. Handle is gross throughput, not consumer expenditure: over 90% of what is wagered gets returned to bettors in the form of winnings. That $1,000 in bets translates to roughly $100 in average losses per adult.
But it does point out the vast majority of the losses are absorbed by 5% of gamblers.
Say I started with $100 and made a bet but only won 90 back. Then the next day I do it again with my 90, but only win 80 this time. Repeat this until I have $10 left, I bet that and lose it.
By your logic, I’ve lost $550, since thats the amount of money I’ve bet over the week and a half. In reality, any sane person would say I’ve lost $100.
The word is ‘lose’, not ‘spend’.
And ‘addiction’, not ‘favourite pastime’.
yeah, they would be better advised to throw their money into the garbage, at least that way they wouldn’t make some rich asshole even richer.
Nice try big garbage industry man
No, spend is right. The number being compared against is the amount spent on gambling. Obviously some of those bets won, so the amount lost would be far less.
All fair points. I just object to people breathlessly putting out stories like this as if it’s a good thing and anything other than gambling at best, and insider trading at worst. The only people winning on those sites are the people with inside information.
(edit: fixed typos)
Most gambling winnings go right back into gambling and are subsequently lost.
I would be surprised if it was “far less” although mathematically it must be strictly less.
But it does point out the vast majority of the losses are absorbed by 5% of gamblers.
Say I started with $100 and made a bet but only won 90 back. Then the next day I do it again with my 90, but only win 80 this time. Repeat this until I have $10 left, I bet that and lose it.
By your logic, I’ve lost $550, since thats the amount of money I’ve bet over the week and a half. In reality, any sane person would say I’ve lost $100.