I'd argue that, while a portion of this rise obviously consists of troubled/problem/addicted gamblers, a huge part of the rise of gambling is from desperation: The public's growing belief that the traditional wealth-producing ladders have all been pulled up, and that gambling is the last remaining hope that normal people have of making decent money.

"Work hard all your life and retire with a pension." - fantasy in 2026.

"Invent something new and capitalize on it." - not realistic in the face of gigantic, powerful, all-owning corporations who will squash you.

"Buy an existing business and live off the proceeds." - impossible without existing wealth.

"Become a famous pop star or sports hero." - as improbable as ever.

People have no hope anymore, and hopeless people turn to random chance as the last and only remaining option.

I think "huge part ... is from desperation" needs a citation. Gambling has been known to be a vice for millenia. There was an article on here not long ago where a reporter did sports gambling for a year for a story; he started off Mormon, disinterested in gambling, with $10k from the company, and after he lost it, he put himself on the state self-exclusion list because now he had a problem with gambling. The null hypothesis is that gambling is a vice, so to make it about desperation needs some evidence.

Also, "traditional wealth-producing ladders have all been pulled up" is nonsense. The stock market is available to all comers, and long investing is a traditional path. There was a story here a few years ago about a black janitor in NYC who died and left $7 million to the MoMA (or some such); he had invested $10k a year in the stock market. People in the trades still make good money. People on this site also tend to be in the making good money careers. I saw a bunch of young couples--and not the techy-looking ones, either--at the open houses this spring in the midwest. Also, one should not extrapolate one's situation at 25 to be the same at 45; if you've done reasonable savings, 45 should looking wealthier.

The rise in gambling isn’t caused by “desperation.” It’s caused by the loosening of social taboos against gambling. Gambling isn’t common in say Bangladesh even though conditions there are much more desperate than anywhere in the U.S.

> "Become a famous pop star or sports hero." - as improbable as ever.

It's even more improbable. For both of those, your starting to see more and more of the current generation that are children/nieces/nephews of the already famous. They have the financial comfort to pursue it, and the family connections in the industries.

And for sports, the level at which you have to be competitive is getting younger and younger. So much more sports science/nutrition going in at the middle school/high school level.

Those were two fields that seemingly were still meritocratic, but that is fading fast, if it ever existed at all.

Spot on. Gambling is their Hail mary shot at getting the life they were promised.

Eh I dunno. In my experience the “working class” sports gamblers who very likely should not be engaging in regular betting are not participating in bets that would be remotely life changing. And they know that. They are putting down $5-20 bets with maybe $100 payouts on parlays or whatnot. They talk about it maybe paying a utility bill or pay for drinks at the bar for game day.

Multi-state lotteries seem to be far more of the “hopeless” case where there is actually a life changing amount of money up for grabs. But far less consistent dopamine hits. The regular low stakes sports gamblers who piss away their paychecks in small chunks over time are doing it for those small wins and chasing the next one.

That’s not to invalidate the point people feel hopeless, I just don’t think the average “degenerate” Fanduel bettor really is chasing that sort of thing.

> while a portion of this rise obviously consists of troubled/[...], a huge part of the rise of gambling is from desperation

Is that really so? It's a get-rich-quick scheme and absolutely no one is under any illusions otherwise, including the people gambling their rent money. They know it's a very long shot and that most people don't make bank, but they hope it'll go different for them.

WallStreetBets, just another form of gambling, is filled with posts of people losing everything but it doesn't seem to stop newbies.

The gap between troubled/problem/addicted and "desperate" has to be paper thin, if it exists at all.

yeah it seems winning the lottery is now our best chance for survival.