When I was a boy scout when of my troop leaders (and father of one of the other scouts) killed himself after gambling away his house, leaving his wife and kid(s?) homeless and penniless.

I don’t really know the details because I was a kid, I’m not traumatized by it or anything but it puts it into pretty stark relief for me.

I know more people whose lives have been ruined by gambling than by drunk driving, drug use and STDs put together. It’s about education and anti-normalization.

Gambling houses abuse the risk/reward/ pleasure dynamics of the human brain. They should not be advertised or normalized at all.

There is so much gambling stuff during sports now.

That’s a major reason why I don’t watch sports. I couldn’t imagine watching it with my kid, either.

For those who watch the PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League), they don’t advertise when you watch live stream games through their official YouTube channel. But if they decide to put gambling ads there, I’m out.

Yep it’s the same for me. I absolutely loathe the gambling ads and it was the last straw for me to tune out of watching most sports. I still watch baseball, but it doesn’t seem to be quite as prevalent in those broadcasts for some reason

Just out of curiosity, what makes seeing a gambling ad untenable for you?

I find it unethical to advertise “products” that are either highly addictive or cause harm to an audience.

Gambling, smoking, alcohol, etc. These are all common in regular YouTube ads, and to have them play during a family-friendly event/sport isn’t something I want to support or view myself.

Ads are damaging, and ads promoting these products go beyond that. This has been widely studied showing detrimental effects, even on young people and children.

I’d rather not pollute my own mind, or the minds of my family, to sit through a game promoting these things.

The Youtube stuff is even worse. Pretty much all the Sport content I’ve seen in the last couple years has a sponsored segment for gambling and they try to hook people in with free plays and some have even started doing the “I won so much” money crap. This stuff is almost getting to the point ridiculous like health cigarettes.

I would think regulatory wise any content with these ads would be the equivalent of rate R.

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