This looks less like gambling addiction and more like a scam executed for profit.

SirFatty 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

And who fueled the profits? Gamblers?

wongarsu 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This instance is what you could call a scam, maybe even fraud. But in the absence of manipulation or insider knowledge predicting the weather is pretty close to gambling. As is "does bitcoin go up or down in the next five minutes" or "how many tweets will Elon Musk post in the next couple days" (all real bets on Polymarket)

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chneu 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yes, gambling. That's literally what gambling is, a scam.

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qup 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Gambling takes many forms.

If you and I flip a coin for $100, there's no scam.

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mint5 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It’s a scam when the house takes $1 from that $100 each time. These unlicensed internet gambling halls most certainly take their cut, whatever that amount is.

	▲	scottyah 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It's only a scam if they don't disclose that. If the house brought the two people together I'd say it's fair as services rendered. I don't get mad when a bar charges more than the base cost of the alcohol.
	▲	HDThoreaun an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Your definition of scam is terrible

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testing22321 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sooner or later someone will rig the coin

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chucksta 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Potential for fraudulent activity makes something a scam? That list is gonna be long

	▲	Tade0 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		"Gaming"[0] companies are audited for the expected value each coin toss/slot machine roll etc. has - typically it's a high and unusually precise percentage, like e.g. 95.1681%. The scam in is advertising, that emphasizes how much you can potentially win, even though obviously on average the house takes those few percent each time. [0] A term they like to use to describe themselves.

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hyperhello 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Or a spherical cow.

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close04 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

A lot of gambling is a scam executed form profit. I call it a scam because it's not always fraudulent, it's persuasion and a dash of misleading info. Often one party unduly influences the outcome or has information that the other can't have. Whether it's corruption to predetermine the result of a match, or knowing that the star player will miss it, or a gambling machine that suggests a higher expected payout than the real one, or even a casino's rules that arbitrarily decide whether your win was legitimate or not, in practice the industry is more scam than legitimate business.