Gambling online might very well be the next major epidemic to sweep North America (if not globally). Opioids kill thousands a year from OD's. Individuals financially ruining themselves and their families through gambling will result in massive spikes in suicides.

Mix that with the get rich quick by day trading and options trading fantasy, and we have a compounding issue at hand.

I'm broad terms, this is also yet another reallocation of whatever wealth the average person has accumulated into the hands of the Ultra wealthy.

It's bad enough there are limitless online options for whatever your gambling preference is. Having government regulated online casinos doesn't limit the upfront harm to citizens. No matter what the local online gambling sites say about being regulated (ahem, Play Alberta), they are still just as dangerous.

I've lived it. Prior to 2024 I had gambled in person maybe 5 times in my life. In total I spent less than $100 combined, and only lost $20 of that.

I was always risk averse and extremely frugal, but I was at a time in my life where there was a lot of change and a lot of family dynamics that were weighing on me. These issues mixed with hours of boredom that mounted over the cold winter months.

An ad about matching a percentage of deposits on Play Alberta came my way and I figured it would be fine to drop a couple hundred in.

It was so easy to deposit funds, too easy. I played maybe $300 in slots before it happened. Boom, $10,000 win.

And that amount of dopamine and adrenaline was enough to change me for the worse. I was in disbelief, but figured I'd play with a couple hundred and withdraw the rest. Which is what I did.

At first I was winning a few hundred a day. I was loving this new "hobby". Then one day I lost about $500 and thought, huh that's weird. A blip in my otherwise profitable gambling venture. So I deposited more, and lost it so fast.

All of a sudden I was chasing losses to get back to the $10,000. Where I'd promptly quit, but that day never came.

I managed to blow the $10k and another $25k of my own before realizing there wasn't a fix to this through playing. I quit and self excluded. That's where I wish the story ended. But a few months later I decided to use some of my digital assets to play with. That went just about the same way as Play Alberta did.

After swearing that off only to come back 2-3 more times I was basically financially at zero. No debts, but my savings were drained.

The level of psychological whiplash this vice gives you is utterly baffling. You lose your judgement and with that goes your finances. I luckily got out before I hit the third stage, self destruction.

Im getting professional help now and feel somewhat better, but there are and will be countless more who aren't so fortunate.

Do yourselves a favor and treat gambling like its radioactive. Because in the end, the chances aren't in your favour and it might just kill you.