Online Sports Betting is for Losers (searls.com)
While the online sportsbook algorithms are good at spotting gamblers who are smarter than the house, they aren’t so good at spotting and getting help for problem gamblers, which the sportsbook apps are all but (or actually) designed to create—especially out of young people who are quick to rationalize the game of losing money as a form of fun.
I suppose algorithms that limit winners is the technology equivalent of spotting a card counter on camera and escorting them out of the casino (and adding their name to a ‘permanently banned’ list). No surprise that the sports betting apps do this. But the real question is why aren’t they using the power of algorithms to spot those with nascent gambling problems? Limiting those accounts might not help the gambler, though, as they can likely just move to a different app.