#GAMBLING

PPC Landppcland
2026-01-10

Google opens Belarus gambling ads with dual-authority licensing: Google accepts online gambling ads in Belarus starting January 22, 2026, requiring operators to secure authorization from Ministry of Taxes and presidential offices. ppc.land/google-opens-belarus-

The Times Of Central Asia | Eurasian Publication & News Onlinetimesca.com@web.brid.gy
2026-01-09
2026-01-09

Man extradited from Cambodia to China suspected of running online criminal empire

BANGKOK — BANGKOK (AP) — Chen Zhi boasted of pulling in $30 million a day, prosecutors in the…
#NewsBeep #News #Headlines #129013599 #Article #Business #Courts #Cyberscams #Extradition #Fraud #gambling #Generalnews #Indictments #Internet #Lawenforcement #Politics #Technology #Washingtonnews #World #Worldnews
newsbeep.com/352651/

ScrollBots.comscrollbots_com
2026-01-08

It's okay to not know the odds. 😔 Lwin, Wolfgang, and Ashok confessed they sometimes lacked clarity or felt uncertain about the rules of & , admitting it's okay to not have all the answers.

FanDuel fined $350K after suspicious betting activity in table tennis games: AGCO
Ontario's alcohol and gaming regulator says FanDuel Canada is facing a $350,000 fine after it accepted bets on table tennis games that showed warning signs of suspicious betting and match-fixing then failed to report the unusual activity.
#gambling #suspiciousactivity #fine #Ontario
cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ont

DJM (freelance for hire)cybeardjm@masto.ai
2026-01-08

Prince-linked network hit as chair deported to China
mekongindependent.com/2026/01/

Alleged scam tycoon arrested and sent to China
Chen Zhi has been accused by the US of running one of Asia’s biggest transnational criminal organisations
ft.com/content/8ddd2c94-41a7-4

#China #SouthEastAsia #Gambling #Casino #PigButchering #Cambodia

2026-01-08

Secret documents reveal NT clubs' pokies profits staying in-house
By Jason Walls

Previously secret documents released under Freedom of Information laws have revealed how the Northern Territory's pokies clubs' community contributions are really being spent.

abc.net.au/news/2026-01-09/nt-

#Gambling #Addictions #CommunityOrganisations #Veterans #JasonWalls

Emerald EmigoEmporerEM
2026-01-08

💣Are they trying to hit Drake and Adin Ross with the RICO???

youtu.be/V2PfXPaoQIM?si=AnBfHN

𝕯𝖔𝖔𝖒𝖘𝖈𝖗𝖔𝖑𝖑™Doomscroll@zirk.us
2026-01-07

💼 Polymarket stiffed crowd on $10.5M, saying grab of Maduro wasn’t invasion. Fine print says control of turf. Traders call it a shakedown. One whale flipped $34K into $409K & Congress is sniffing around. Hard to sell truth when the house rewrites words after the bet.

Polymarket’s choice signals deeper tension in systems that monetize uncertainty: who gets to define reality after fact & what happens when that definition diverges from public interpretation?

#Gambling boingboing.net/2026/01/07/poly

BGDon 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 👨‍💻BrentD@techhub.social
2026-01-07

When your bookie says - nope that was not the bet you made!

Polymarket has refused to settle $10.5M in bets related to the US military operation in Venezuela, saying Maduro’s capture did not meet its invasion criteria which it clarified as “US military operations intended to establish control”. cryptonews.com/news/polymarket #Polymarket #Prediction #PredictionMarkets #Gambling #Venezuela #Maduro #USGov #Betting #Crypto

Market Data on Smart Phone
2026-01-07

Poker pro shares what he made in 2025. Maybe the word "made" in the first sentence should've been in quotes.

youtube.com/shorts/SxGem7u6aHo

#Poker #Gambling #Awkward

⚯ Michel de Cryptadamus ⚯cryptadamist@universeodon.com
2026-01-06

“Gamblers, trying to collect their payout from #Polymarket, left baffled as they learn that the US operation carried out in Venezuela does not meet Polymarket's definition of an invasion”.

(and just in case you’re wondering, #Polymarket is a #crypto thing, unlike #Kalshi which lets you gamble in real money)

#Venezuela #Maduro #Trump #Uspol #predictionMarkets #predictionMarket #gambling

By Brett Arends

(MarketWatch) -- If this isn't an invasion, what is?

Donald Trump Jr.'s private investment company bought a stake in Polymarket
last year, and he joined the company's advisory board.

Who says the U.S. government didn't just invade Venezuela to capture its
president and first lady?

A global betting market with close ties to the Trump family, that's who.
Customers of Polymarket are crying foul after the world's biggest prediction
market has refused to pay out on bets that the U.S. would "invade" Venezuela,
claiming that the events over the weekend don't count.

"Then what the f- would be an invasion?" asked one anonymous client in a post
on the Polymarket website, calling the company "Polyscam.”

"Polymarket has descended into sheer arbitrariness," said another. "Words are
redefined at will, detached from any recognized meaning, and facts are simply
ignored. That a military incursion, the kidnapping of a head of state, and the
takeover of a country are not classified as an invasion is plainly absurd."

"You wanna be f-ing kidding me," wrote another.

"So it's not an invasion because they did it quickly and not many people died?"
asked another. (The New York Times, citing a Venezuelan official, has reported
a death toll of 80 in the raid.)

The comments section turned to heavy sarcasm, with several gamblers asking
2026-01-06

5 Hidden Ways the Gambling Industry Engineers Harm

Introduction: The Illusion of Choice

For many, gambling is seen as a form of entertainment, a voluntary activity where personal responsibility is paramount. We’re told to gamble responsibly. But, if things go wrong, the blame is often placed on the individual’s lack of self-control. 

But what if that entire narrative is a dangerous fiction?

A new public health study reveals gambling harm is not an unfortunate side effect of a few people’s poor choices. Instead, it is the calculated outcome of a powerful and deliberate “gambling ecosystem” designed to maximize profit at a severe human cost.

This system operates using tactics that public health experts call the “commercial determinants of health.” The same strategies used by the tobacco and fossil fuel to drive profit by undermining public wellbeing. 

This post will reveal five of the most impactful insights from the study, exposing the hidden truths of an industry that has mastered the art of engineering harm.

1. The “Responsible Gambling” Slogan is Designed to Blame YOU

The familiar phrase “gamble responsibly” is not a genuine public health message but a strategic discourse meticulously promoted by the industry. The primary function of this narrative is to shift the focus, and the blame, onto the individual consumer.

By framing harm as a personal failing, it deflects attention. It deflects it from:

  • Predatory industry practices
  • Unsafe products
  • A system that profits from addiction

This blame-shifting has severe consequences, creating a culture of shame that prevents people from seeking help and isolates them when they are most vulnerable. As the study’s authors note: 

This emphasis on individual responsibility diverts attention from the practices of the industry. It generates stigma and shame for those harmed. It downplays serious harms caused by gambling. Worst of all: it contributes to the suicide toll. 

This psychological framing is so damaging because it convinces individuals that their suffering is their own fault, making it harder to recognize the external forces at play and seek the support they need. 

Are you a professional looking to stay up-to-date with the latest information on, sex addiction, trauma, and mental health news and research? Or maybe you’re looking for continuing education courses?

Stay up-to-date with all of Dr. Jen’s work through her practice’s newsletter!

2. The Gambling Industry’s Goal is For You to “Play to Extinction”

Behind the glamorous advertising and messages of entertainment lies a stark and chilling internal objective. The study highlights a term used by gambling industry representatives to describe their core aim: “playing to extinction.” 

This isn’t an exaggeration; it’s the industry’s own vocabulary for its business model:

“…gambling industry representatives describe their aim is to maximise revenue per available customer (revpac), and encourage ‘playing to extinction’, the point at which a customer has exhausted all available funds.”

The phrase has a chilling double meaning.

It refers to the financial extinction of a customer’s funds, but in the context of gambling-related suicide, it acquires a much darker significance.

The industry’s profit model depends on pushing customers into the exact states of financial ruin and profound despair that are known precursors to suicide. It is a business model that treats human crisis as a key performance indicator. Rather than a tragic crisis.

3. Products are Engineered to Undermine Your Control

Modern gambling products, especially digital ones, are not simple games of chance. They have been intentionally intensified with features like:

  • Increased speed
  • High complexity
  • “Frictionless” transactions

All designed to encourage extended use and bypass a person’s executive function. 

The industry also employs digital tactics like sludging. Deliberately designing interactions to make it difficult for customers to act in their own best interest. Such as withdrawing funds or closing an account. This tactic also manifests physically. For 15 years, the Australian industry has resisted modern, universal pre-commitment systems that allow users to set binding loss limits. Instead, it has relied on a form of physical sludging: “manual, paper-based self-exclusion” that requires a person to fill out separate forms for every single venue they wish to avoid. 

Product design also deploys psychological tricks to encourage overspending.

The study points out that a single ticket in the Australian “Powerball” lottery can be priced as high as AUD$46,249.65. This serves as a psychological anchor. While few would buy it, its existence makes spending smaller—yet still exorbitant—amounts like hundreds or thousands of dollars seem reasonable by comparison.

Need support and not local to the Lehigh Valley? Check out the LGBT National Help Center.

4. “Good Causes” are Used as a Smokescreen

A common defense of the gambling industry is that it funds worthy causes, from sports teams to community charities. The research argues this is a calculated strategy to create an “‘alibi’ to legitimise gambling operations” and procure a “social license” to operate. 

This linkage creates a “symbiotic, reflexive relationship” where community groups become financially captured. Reliant on gambling revenue, these beneficiaries become powerful allies in resisting reforms that could threaten their funding, even if those reforms would reduce harm. This insidious dependency creates a powerful barrier to reform. 

As one researcher observed, the dynamic is inescapable: 

… at first the lottery was primarily dependent on the good cause and then, gradually, the good cause became increasingly dependent on the lottery. 

5. The Gambling Industry Distorts Science and Influences Policy

Like the tobacco and fossil fuel industries before it, the gambling ecosystem actively works to control and distort the scientific evidence base to protect its interests. The study identifies two key tactics: 

  • Funding “safe” research: The industry funds and promotes research focused on the individual, such as the influential “pathways model.” This model frames gambling harm as an artifact of pre-existing conditions like “antisocial personality disorder,” thereby shifting blame from the addictive product to the flawed consumer. 
  • Discrediting effective solutions: The ecosystem publicly casts doubt on proven harm-prevention tools. The paper cites an industry-linked researcher who claimed that universal pre-commitment systems might have a “detrimental effect and may aggravate the problem.” Crucially, the study notes that a subsequent review of the evidence cited for this claim found “no support for this conclusion,” noting the studies had significant “methodological limitations.” This reveals a pattern of distorting weak evidence to undermine effective public health measures. 

This distortion of science is coupled with political donations and the “revolving door”—where politicians and staff take industry jobs after leaving office—to block or delay meaningful reforms that could save lives.

Conclusion: Shifting from Individual Blame to Systemic Accountability

The evidence is clear: gambling harm is not a simple story of poor individual choices. It is the predictable and profitable result of a commercial system meticulously designed to addict users, shift blame, and protect its revenue streams at all costs. From manipulative product design to the distortion of science, the gambling ecosystem functions as a commercial determinant of health, actively generating and sustaining harm. 

This reframing moves the problem from one of personal responsibility to one of systemic accountability. Seeing the deliberate system that drives these harms, what does real responsibility—from our governments, communities, and the industry itself—truly look like?

Are you looking for more reputable data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Then you should consult with a professional.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

#behavioralAddiction #commercialDeterminantsOfHealth #darkPatterns #gambling #gamblingAddiction #gamblingHarm #gamblingIndustry #gamblingPolicy #harmReduction #onlineGambling #preCommitmentLimits #predatoryDesign #problemGambling #publicHealth #responsibleGambling #selfExclusion #sludging #sportsBetting #stigmaAndShame #suicidePrevention
A lone man sits at a blackjack table with his head down under a single spotlight, while a neon “Gamble Responsibly” sign glows in the distance—capturing the isolation and harm of Gambling.
Claudio Piresclaudiocamposp
2026-01-06

Why Gamblers Are Turning to Decentralized Gambling Platforms visualmodo.com/why-gamblers-ar 🎲🎮♣️

2026-01-06

Courthouse News Service: Drake gambling streams. “Two users of an illegal online gambling platform claim rapper Drake, along with two co-conspirators including streamer Adin Ross, promoted the casino to obscure transmissions of money for music botting campaigns. They say were they were induced to participate in unlawful gambling and ask in the class action for $5 million in damages.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/01/06/courthouse-news-service-drake-gambling-streams/

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