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Addiction Markets

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383 points toomuchtodo | 2 comments | 31 Oct 25 17:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.452s | source
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Humorist2290 ◴[31 Oct 25 23:50 UTC] No.45777973[source]▶

  But if you want to outlaw this harmful activity [licensed gambling], you have to find a way to replace 6.4% of Maryland’s budget, which is slightly less than the entire amount the state brings in from corporate taxes.
A fraction of the proceeds of losing bets from a fraction of Maryland's citizens contributes almost the same to state services -- EMS, education, road maintenance, etc -- than the total corporate taxes levied on all businesses.

Do I misunderstand, or is this just actually incredible?

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kurtis_reed ◴[01 Nov 25 10:57 UTC] No.45780719[source]▶
Not losing bets, all bets
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1. soVeryTired ◴[01 Nov 25 11:48 UTC] No.45780932[source]▶
In one sense, winning bets. If you lose, you lose: your money is gone either way. If you win, the fact that the probabilities sum to about 1.05 means you win less than you would have in a fair game. The state just takes a cut of that extra 0.05.
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2. jakelazaroff ◴[01 Nov 25 15:00 UTC] No.45782157[source]▶
The probabilities sum to less than 1, not greater than 1, right?