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A Final Thought 👋

jungl3

By jungl3
in Casino Discussion

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jungl3 Experienced

jungl3

Posted
Posted

Stake and other major crypto casinos lack any meaningful regulatory oversight. They do not care if you can afford to gamble, where your money came from or if you jump in front of a train after ruining your life by playing here. They don't care if your children starve to death on the street because you've deposited all of your salary here rather than buy food and pay rent. They have no duty of care to the players. Crucially, they choose to have no duty of care to the players because they put more value on bigger profits. Maybe some of the staff have some empathy and wouldn't want for those things to happen, but actions speak louder than words. The founders of the site, whoever currently owns it, the staff and the streamers who promote stake have all decided that they can live with the consequences of their actions. Perhaps they've used mental gymnastics to remove themselves from the equation and would argue that really, because of x and y they bear no responsibility. I call bullshit. The benefits outweigh the negatives for them - money is more important to them than people's lives.

Inb4 "it's your own choice and you'd just gamble somewhere else if stake didn't exist". Maybe, maybe not. Self exclusion in regulated countries means that you can't just open a new account and start over. There are ways and means, but it's not easy and action is taken when rules are broken or the protections that should be in place aren't there. When you deposit large amounts, they're legally obliged to find out how you can deposit so much. Is it a perfect system? No. Do I like giving away personal information? No. Is it better overall than the alternatives, such as stake? Yes, I do. Should people be allowed to make their own choices? Sure, but they're not the only ones hurt by a gambling addiction. Family, friends and society pay the price, too - financially, emotionally and culturally.

If you saw a blind man walking towards a cliff, would you watch as they fell to their death without intervening? If so, is that the kind of society that you'd like to live in, where we all watch each other destroy ourselves and shrug our shoulders - "not my problem". Does it change when you care about the people involved or when their actions may affect you? Does it change when that person isn't competent to make the decision - if they're sick, have mental issues or don't understand what's going on? Would it be wrong to take advantage of these people, to use as a slave for instance? Should children be allowed to gamble and bear the consequences of their actions? Where would you draw the line? Would you draw one or should it be a free-for-all?

I've self-excluded today. I'm sick of everything - the industry, this site, sports being dominated by gambling adverts, people with zero morals pimping slots to children, but most of all I'm sick of feeling disgusted with myself. These people don't deserve my time or my money and, while I'll need to learn to forgive myself, I know that I deserve better.

To everybody here, I wish you all the best and hope that you can do the right thing for you. If that's to stay here and gamble, fair play and good luck with it. If you reach the point where you decide that enough is enough, that what you're doing isn't a part of who you want to be or isn't a part of the world you'd like to live in, then I wish you all the strength you need to make a positive change and encourage you to do so.

I'll add another post to the thread with resources for help with problem gambling/gambling addiction in case the links trigger censorship on this one. Keep your eyes peeled for an anti-gambling project or two that I'll be working on now that I have the time and funds.

✌️

 

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