Casinos and gambling venues IRL are almost always their own thing, you can’t go one by mistake and you shouldn’t see them surfacing in unspecialized common spaces, e.g. on Olympics stadium.
In videogames the casino element penetrates recreational spaces that were mostly safe from that for years. Not as a shadow scheme with reselling/gambling on some third party site - this can’t be stopped - but in the game itself. Valve’s promotional algorythm walks around the lobby giving everyone free spins coupons, that not only reaches mentally unstable addicts, but also normalizes the practice of jerking the slot machine from time to time for the larger userbase. Every actor in that trend is a self-serving agent, but their collective influence puts a foot in the door and proclaims that gambling is a casual part of a daily life and there’s nothing wrong in seeing it everywhere, even parting with a couple of bucks recreationally, that in the end makes bazillions to the house.
Casinos and gambling venues IRL are almost always their own thing, you can’t go one by mistake and you shouldn’t see them surfacing in unspecialized common spaces, e.g. on Olympics stadium.
In videogames the casino element penetrates recreational spaces that were mostly safe from that for years. Not as a shadow scheme with reselling/gambling on some third party site - this can’t be stopped - but in the game itself. Valve’s promotional algorythm walks around the lobby giving everyone free spins coupons, that not only reaches mentally unstable addicts, but also normalizes the practice of jerking the slot machine from time to time for the larger userbase. Every actor in that trend is a self-serving agent, but their collective influence puts a foot in the door and proclaims that gambling is a casual part of a daily life and there’s nothing wrong in seeing it everywhere, even parting with a couple of bucks recreationally, that in the end makes bazillions to the house.