<story><title>Engineers of addiction</title><url>http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/6/8544303/casino-slot-machine-gambling-addiction-psychology-mobile-games</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>downandout</author><text>Casinos like to say that roughly 2% of players become addicted.  What they fail to mention is that approximately &lt;i&gt;half&lt;/i&gt; of all their revenue comes from these 2%.  A more telling statistic is that approximately 10% of players account for &lt;i&gt;90%&lt;/i&gt; of all casino revenue [1].  The numbers are quite similar for games with IAP [2].&lt;p&gt;While every casino in the US displays signage claiming to support &amp;quot;responsible gaming&amp;quot; and claims to have policies in place to stop addicts from gambling, the reality is that if addicts were stopped, all casinos would be closed and bankrupt within a month.  No capital-intensive industry could survive if 90% of their revenue suddenly vanished.  And with that, we arrive at the truth: casinos are built explicitly for the creation and exploitation of addiction.&lt;p&gt;This is pretty evil, but it will continue happening as long as politicians can be bought to keep it legal.  The only meaningful way to address it is to focus resources on treatment and prevention.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.wsj.com&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;SB10001424052702304626104579123383535635644&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.wsj.com&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;SB100014240527023046261045791233...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.gamesindustry.biz&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2012-12-12-monetizing-games-crucial-advice-from-key-players&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.gamesindustry.biz&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2012-12-12-monetizing-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>wdr1</author><text>&amp;gt; This is pretty evil, but it will continue happening as long as politicians can be bought to keep it legal.&lt;p&gt;You could make this exact same argument for liquor sales.&lt;p&gt;The top 10% of regular drinkers have 10 drinks a day.  If they reduced their consumption to that of the next decile, total ethanol sales would fall by 60 percent.[1]&lt;p&gt;We tried banning alcohol sales.  It didn&amp;#x27;t work very well.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.the-american-interest.com&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;the-alcohol-industry-needs-alcoholism-to-thrive&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.the-american-interest.com&amp;#x2F;2014&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;05&amp;#x2F;the-alcohol-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Engineers of addiction</title><url>http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/6/8544303/casino-slot-machine-gambling-addiction-psychology-mobile-games</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>downandout</author><text>Casinos like to say that roughly 2% of players become addicted.  What they fail to mention is that approximately &lt;i&gt;half&lt;/i&gt; of all their revenue comes from these 2%.  A more telling statistic is that approximately 10% of players account for &lt;i&gt;90%&lt;/i&gt; of all casino revenue [1].  The numbers are quite similar for games with IAP [2].&lt;p&gt;While every casino in the US displays signage claiming to support &amp;quot;responsible gaming&amp;quot; and claims to have policies in place to stop addicts from gambling, the reality is that if addicts were stopped, all casinos would be closed and bankrupt within a month.  No capital-intensive industry could survive if 90% of their revenue suddenly vanished.  And with that, we arrive at the truth: casinos are built explicitly for the creation and exploitation of addiction.&lt;p&gt;This is pretty evil, but it will continue happening as long as politicians can be bought to keep it legal.  The only meaningful way to address it is to focus resources on treatment and prevention.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.wsj.com&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;SB10001424052702304626104579123383535635644&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.wsj.com&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;SB100014240527023046261045791233...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.gamesindustry.biz&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2012-12-12-monetizing-games-crucial-advice-from-key-players&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.gamesindustry.biz&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2012-12-12-monetizing-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Red_Tarsius</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;it will continue happening as long as politicians can be bought to keep it legal.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s quite a complex issue. How do politicians regulate games without infringing on players&amp;#x27; freedom? How do they discern lawful play from illegal play? Treatment, prevention and awareness is the only practical solution.</text></comment>