Advances in social media, marketing, and technology have created a new generation of gamblers, but these gamblers aren’t traveling to Atlantic City or Vegas to chase a high on slots or poker, they’re placing their bets through their phones or through video games. 

Gambling has been pushed upon the youth for some time now and this is because kids have less knowledge on what gambling actually is. So, large corporations can create gamblers who will be loyal and continue to purchase their products. Growing up, I loved to play video games by myself or with my friends and I always played the new Call of Duty’s and NBA 2K’s that were released every year.

In 2014, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was released to the public and the game developers Sledgehammer Games decided to add a new feature that was never seen before in the franchise’s history; supply drops. These supply drops, which you could earn by playing the game or paying for them, allowed the players to gain an advantage over others. In these supply drops a player could get cosmetics that have no effect on the gameplay or they could unlock new weapons and attachments on those weapons to have an advantage over other players. Everything with the supply drop system was random; it essentially was just slots on a video game. This was just the beginning, this idea of slots in a video game was spread throughout the rest of the franchise game and it branched off into other games as well. 

NBA 2K is a very popular game series that releases every year before the start of the new NBA season and it is similar to Madden and MLB The Show. While all of these games have a pack system where the player could either earn or pay for packs to obtain better players with higher overalls, and once again there is a form of gambling in these games. But what separates 2K from Madden or The Show is that in the My Player game mode they literally have a casino which is shown and advertised to millions of players everyday. Visual Concepts the game developers actively promote gambling to underage and impressionable children, for a game that is rated E for everyone. 

I will admit that when I was growing up I naively spent money that I made through chores on supply drops, packs, and the casino on 2K, but growing up playing these games it never occurred to me that I was actively gambling. Once, when I was a bit older and had more knowledge based on the world around me, I took a step back and finally released what I was doing, and I felt disgust and regret immediately. I feel that this is something that should be removed from these games because it is unethical and downright disgusting to promote a drug to children. 

I also want to shed some light on the realm of online gambling and sports gambling. It has skyrocketed over the years with millions of new users every year. In 2022, the online sports betting industry displayed the fastest commercial growth in gaming segments with a staggering 75% increase in revenue year-on-year. The legalization of sports betting increased its popularity, but what I think really gave it’s popularity was the innovation: being able to bet on games at any time, anywhere, just with the click of a button on your phone.

Mobile casinos have also seen a huge rise in the last couple of years due to the pandemic, with people live streaming themselves gambling. Mobile casinos have the same effect as sports betting, where you can do it anytime and anywhere. The commercials and advertisements for these casinos and sports books are surrounding everyone all across the world. They just want to create more gamblers to generate higher profit margins for their companies. These companies have lost sight of their original goal, which was to create a fun and interactive game for new and old players to enjoy. But, now all they can see is green and they don’t care who they hurt in the process. 

One thing I can’t stand is what this industry has done to sports in general. Some people aren’t watching games to escape reality and be entertained for a few hours, some are betting to chase a high which takes away from the true meaning of sports and it being a facet of entertainment. People have bet on sports placing parlays on certain players’ stats and it has created a toxic environment and fan base, to the point where people will verbally threaten these athletes on social media saying awful and grotesque things about these players and their families. 

Gambling over the years has delved into many facets of entertainment from sports to video games, and even the Academy Awards. Gambling will further increase in popularity as the innovation of technology will increase in the future and it might never show signs of slowing down. All I can hope to do is warn people of the dangers of gambling and pray people learn to control themselves and not fall into a pit of temptation, depression, and debt.