^ I don't know if it's connected, it seems that Paypal accepting crypto is already having an effect on other big companies. mass adoption is getting in our sight, tighten your belt we will see the big bull run soon.
It's definitely a natural evolution for a card processor to want to get involved in the crypto scene and it is surprising that it has taken them so long. I guess now that Paypal has semi-legitimized the whole idea and there has been no push back from the government, many more financial institutions are ready to take the plunge. Bitcoin and crypto in general is replicating the functionality of these payment card networks so they will certainly want to corner as much of the market as possible, drawing people into some sort of wallet that VISA controls and maybe even restricting it to the level of Paypal where it can only be bought/sold back to VISA. This gives them power over a lot of crypto and allows them to generate transaction fees while minimizing possible legal liabilities. |
|
|
|
These are some interesting facts that you might don't know until now. I've stumbled upon this ARTICLE since I'm always curious what's the real reason why people are getting addicted to gambling, and here is why: 1.Gambling is a BILLION dollar industry. In America, gambling has become a $40 billion dollar a year industry. Las Vegas alone brings in close to 10 billion dollars a year from people gambling at their casinos and placing bets. 2. It is common for people to blame certain types of gambling methods, such as lotteries, casinos, and racetracks for causing compulsive gambling, but gambling problems are not caused from gambling being easily attainable, they are caused from a person’s inability to control their gambling habits. There are far more people who gamble on occasion than there are people who are compulsive gamblers. 3. It has been estimated that around 80 percent of the US population has gambled in their lifetime. Gambling can be done in various different ways and therefore is easy for people to access. 4. Pathological gamblers are significantly more likely to have mental health disorders and/or substance use disorders. 5. A research study found that 75% of gamblers had an alcohol disorder, 38% had a drug use disorder, and 60% were nicotine dependent. 6. 50% of gamblers have experienced a mood disorder, 41.3% had experienced an anxiety disorder, and 60.8% had experienced a personality disorder. 7. Men are more likely to develop a gambling problem than women. 8. It is estimated that three to four percent of the American population has a gambling problem; this is approximately between six to eight million people. 9. The last gambling addiction fact to remember is that compulsive gambling does not mean that you are a weak person. Many people who have become problem gamblers are very successful and are seen by others as strong and intelligent people. It can be really sobering and a real eye opener to anybody who is drawn to gambling to see hard facts laid out like this. You simply have to remember one thing - Vegas was not paid for by winners and that applies to all gambling institutions that are rolling in profits. I don't think the odd gamble is a dangerous thing, many people play the lottery even though that has probably the worst odds of any game, but it's on a small and controlled scale. I would question the last point that you made however, while intelligent people are susceptible to the damaging effects of problem gambling - very few people would judge such a person to be strong or wise. |
|
|
|
Was at a small shop in NYC. Rates were not great 5% on either side of the trade. But it was interesting. The ATM handles no cash. If you wanted to buy you spoke to the cashier, gave him cash and you got a receipt with a barcode that you went to the machine with the receipt scanned the barcode and then a QR code for your address and poof BTC in your wallet. To sell you went to the machine and send BTC to the address it gave you and it printed a receipt that you brought to the cashier. Who could then make a judgement call as to wait for a certain number of conformations or just hand you the cash.
I heard mention of them a few years ago, never saw one before.
I think the name of the place was Superior convenience (or close to it) somewhere on Manhattan Ave in the 130s. Was wet and cold and just ran in for a cup of coffee and saw the BATM.
-Dave
It's certainly great to see more uptake of this and have it accessible to a wider range of people, but it certainly feels like quite a clunky setup. I doubt many shops carry a lot of cash to prevent themselves getting robbed, so there must be fairly low inputs and outputs that they can allow for the machine. It's a bit of a pain that it requires input from a third party (the cashier) who is required to validate a step and this might put a few buyers off. Last of all the time it takes to confirm might also vary and unless the miner fee is set quite high then a customer might have to wait around a long time for the transaction to confirm or the business might actually be unaware and put itself at risk if they don't want for adequate confirmations. |
|
|
|
Central banks have announced CBDCs (central bank issued digital currencies). Some have voiced concerns of CBDCs being tools of surveillance and control. If society experiences CBDCs and decides they do not like them, will it be possible to revert to a barter based system of trade? A barter based system could be more susceptible to fraud and scams. Yet would allow for financial transaction outside of CBDC regulation. This could become a necessary step if some individuals and businesses are deplatformed by CBDC. Some businesses can only survive by paying workers under the table. In practice a barter based system could function similar to ebay with an independent and reliable 3rd party form of escrow. (Blockchain based of course, we aren't complete savages and primitives  ) Could a barter system be a worthwhile form of trade past the year 2022. Perhaps the next big leap forward will be a retro move backward into the past. A barter system is incredibly dumb and such a wasteful use of resources, people created money to solve this purpose but you think it's a good idea to go back? Nobody is being forced to use CBDC's and they will sit alongside the current financial system instead of replacing it. The two extremes are not "stone age" bartering versus cutting edge CBDC blockchain currencies, there is lots of ground in the middle. Only in places like China will people be vulnerable to the whims of the government when it comes to cryptocurrency, just like they are already. In fact, I doubt we will see much uptake of these digital currencies created by central banks precisely because people do not trust them over the thousands of pre-existing cryptocurrencies that are much less vulnerable to manipulation by greedy politicians. |
|
|
|
Who else thinks that these kind of thing may hit mainstream sooner or later? I don't know if this is something new but seen a news from Decentral Games that they are launching a play-to-earn Metaverse poker. Others predict next to NFTs boom that it could the the Metaverse hype. Any thoughts? Over time, we believe several projects will attempt to deliver play-to-earn architectures. However, due to the state of Decentral Games’ current product and community, DG is in a lucrative position to take advantage of this new wave in gaming with a first-mover advantage. We’ve already built metaverse poker, blackjack, roulette, backgammon, and slots, which are games enjoyed daily by our community through memorable events like live music performances, casino night competitions, poker tournaments, and more. https://decentral.games/blog/decentral-games-announces-play-to-earn-metaverse-poker-ice-token-rolloutIt seems inevitable now that Facebook, the largest social media company in the world is going to build out their own "metaverse" which is basically going to turn into one big virtual reality grand theft auto time environment on steroids. Facebook was always looking for a solid way to make money and advertising brings some money in, but it's not like Google that has a huge income stream for little outlay. I wouldn't think much of these smaller companies that claim to be launching the latest and greatest metaverse products, they are simply going after the buzz words of the minute to sell some product - it'll be one of the big players like Google, Amazon, Facebook or Microsoft that create the world in which all these other gaming companies will reside - they'll play by someone elses rules and pay a commission for the privilege. |
|
|
|
Recently, many governments have been showing increasing animosity against Cryptos. While the US is preparing to launch a Blockchain surveillance plan, other countries such as Sweeden are showing signs of moving towards a crypto crackdown by criminalising mining. Should we be worried about this? The news does tend to be trending this way at the moment and it can become a self fulfilling prophecy. China was always shady about crypto, just like everything else, and nobody should have expected them to allow it over the long term - they just wanted to cash generated by miners via dirty fuels. However India is another huge population that may soon be banned from owning any crypto apart from the government sponsored one and if Sweden keeps pushing the environmental side then it could attract other EU governments to act against Bitcoin and others. Once we start seeing multiple countries come out with bans, it will become a lot easier for others to stop their citizens owning it (at least via legalized exchanges) in future. It seems like many politicians are seeing it as an easy target right now and that could be quite dangerous for holders. |
|
|
|
I found this article online: https://www.gamblinginsider.com/in-depth/13527/new-frontiers-in-gambling-present-problems-for-regulators In the article the regulators explained how they cannot control certain new gambling sites like : sorare.com and are issuing warnings about them. Since they cannot take it entirely as gambling, the speculation in the football index is actually something that is way beyond the scope of government's regulatory body. The ability to sell bets/shares between users was something the company put in place immediately, but it did so without any permission. This is a feature that sits outside gambling regulation and is something the Commission would be likely to refuse and had done so before,” remarked Rhodes. The commission cannot monitor the site continuously. Their framework does not allow to do so. How at the end the public is criticizing them about their age old traditional methods to try and control the gambling. But now with the new technologies they are unable to cope up with the regulatory stress. Shouldn't they ask themselves this question that why haven't they thought about this since 2009 when cryptocurrencies were invented and the gambling+ crypto industry came not long after that. Now they cannot question cryptocurrencies, they cannot question gambling, the laws needs a serious reform. But I somehow feel like the government will again bend this down and make this the probelm of cryptocurrencies and not them. What do you think about this particular article?? I think such sites need to be very careful with how they operate, because we see governments around the world are very capable of controlling or restricting access to certain sites around the world and such sites are not as untouchable as the article might suggest. However, most governments do not care that much if their citizens pour their cash into these type of gambling sites - sure they'll try to take a cut where they can impose it within their borders, but the only time they're usually interested in many jurisidictions is being able to tax large winning amounts. The football index you describe is a "novel" form of betting, which is akin to trading cards or NFT's but is not really a new idea, people have just found a new way to market an old product under the guise of being crypto related. It most definitely can be judged under existing securities or currency laws in most countries. |
|
|
|
I mean everyone has different kinds of beliefs after all. Heck, if looked at a different perspective, a scientific approach to sports betting (relying on data, analysis, team composition, etc) and relying on superstitions are both types of belief. Now if one side doesn't believe in the other, well, that's just that right? I mean it's beliefs, after all, it'd be pretty odd if everyone just agreed on one belief, since each and every one of us has different types of belief we believe in. Really, just decide for yourself imo. It's YOUR belief after all.
Yes, we have different kinds of beliefs, and sometimes our beliefs come true and sometimes they don't, it's a harsh reality! So we can assume there are people who win often and there is a bunch of people who lose often... For me, as a gambler, everything is in chance, and with knowing your chance you can create odds for something that can happen or not! As a gambler, I also know that big chances with low odds fall, and small chances with higher odds pass! It's life, we get surprised often! I am not superstitious, I know my chances... and more importantly, I know my bankroll and how much I can allow myself to risk, and what level of risk I am willing to take! I'd have to disagree that a "scientific approach to sports betting" is based on belief, it is based on facts and statistics - there is a clear difference. If a team has won 9 times in a row against teams of a reasonably equal footing (e.g. in the premier league) then you could go into the next game with the prior evidence that they are extremely likely to win. However if you had two teams that had won the last 5 games themselves, then it becomes almost impossible to identify who is likely to win because the evidence is likely indicating that they are evenly matched so it is a toss up who will take the game. Statistical analysis is actually extremely profitable to a few big players in the world of sports betting, but it is usually the sportsbooks that have access to all the best information which is why they make such big profits. They "house" is not picking based on belief, but all the information and indicators. |
|
|
|
I don't watch much TV on the TV itself nowadays, so I don't know if anyone has been talking about this ad or not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbvl60_CZl8" What a load of bullshit", I found myself saying aloud after witnessing that for the first time. How can it be working for everyone when so many people in the world are unbanked? And how much of the wording in that was deliberately chosen to mirror the kinds of things we say about Bitcoin? It feels very much like a pre-emptive first strike on their part, possibly demonstrating some insecurities about the threat their business model now faces. Anyone else get the sense they had crypto in mind when they wrote the script for it? Yeah it certainly feels so fake and unnecessary 10 seconds in. People know what VISA is probably by the time they are 5 years old, it's one of the backbone payment processors that covers the whole world and it just feels completely pointless to advertise it any more. I suppose the ever shrinking marketing department is trying to justify their budget and existence, if this is the best idea they come up with then they really need to be fired. It's not even a standalone product, they simply sell their payment cards to other brands so they can use the processing network. I guess this is where the extra cash is going from VISA jacking up the prices in places like the UK just because they're greedy. |
|
|
|
Had to post this as one of few pieces with a positive sounding BTC headline published by an approved source in this day and age.
Not everything mentioned in the above article is true. But there are smart and good points made throughout.
Reading this is a good foundation for discussing our current state of inflation and money. Comprehending the basic fundamentals a good foundation for digging ourselves out of future crisis or debt.
I'll read through it a few more times to make sure I didn't miss anything. Please let me know if this is good content. What you enjoyed about it, or didn't enjoy. Thank you.
Not to put too much of a downer on it, because Bitcoin and the blockchain brought about a revolutionary idea that has a bright future. However being limited to 21 million coins is a huge barrier to widespread adoption even when you go to many decimal places will psychologically never be attractive to the general public. Unless you already hold Bitcoin the amount looks insignificantly small to buyers and gets smaller as the price rises, who wants 0.0018 BTC when they are used to seeing $100? There is also the processing power of the miner network that uses vastly greater energy consumption than existing card payment networks, it is simply bad for the world to use a currency gets exponentially more wasteful as more people use it for transactions. |
|
|
|
Being an active member who usually visits and posts on gambling boards, I can help but notice posts related to "gambling addiction" which results in deeper problems, so I'm thinking, how about let's share some positive vibes by sharing our winning bet slips here so they will also think that we can actually win in gambling.
I suggest that you share your personal betslip and maybe put some remarks/explanation on how and when you won it, that way you can always come back here and reminisce about our success in this long journey.
Frankly this is kind of pointless and meaningless - they are so easy to fake it is impossible to trust any that are posted. It is just a way for people to humble brag and most of the time the big scores have so little money put down that it is barely a pay off. You also need to see the context, if people have 10 long shot bets but only one pays off then it is a pretty poor representation of their supposed winning prowess. I've placed several bets in a row around the 1.03 decimal mark and they somehow managed to lose, even though at level you should be betting on an almost certainty to win. Gambling is not a journey, it should just be done for fun because you'll never be able to beat the statistics crunching by the bookmakers. |
|
|
|
Once again India plans of banning all private cryptocurrencies through the bill that is into discussion on the winter session. The bill is called the Cryptocurrency and the Regulation of Official Cryptocurrency Bill 2021. Lawmakers have been into deep discussion about the regulation of cryptocurrencies. In recent days there is massive rise in the user profiles and transactions on exchanges. It is the middle class that hasn't invested on stocks or other assets have begun to start trading. This is the fear of the government, because it is the majority group of the country. Anyhow once after the winter session on parliament we'll get a clear stand of the government on cryptocurrency usage. Source : India plans law that will prohibit ‘all private cryptocurrencies’As others have said - all these trash and gimmicky coins created purely to make the founders rich are going to end up doing much more damage to the crypto scene than almost anything else. When there is so much junk being pushed to many uneducated buyers, then it attracts the attention of regulators who have a tendency to hit hard with a hammer instead of chiseling away delicately so the more established currencies can last. We're stuck in a catch-22 situation however, because many buyers here will simply chase the crowd in the hope of increasing their wealth in the short term but may ultimately undermine the whole sector in the longer term. |
|
|
|
Seems like cola.bet is making serious advancements in Africa, they recently launched a zero margin campaign and even offered the users with additional 150% deposit bonus, which lead to an increase of 320% in the new active users. Players from Kenya, Ethiopia and Zambia will not be able to benefit from this offer and at the same time they are providing this zero margin campaign for many pre matches as well. They are also going to introduce a variety of other bonuses for the players, which I do think might be really good for the people who might be into betting, they would be getting new options as well. So if you are from Kenya, Ethiopia or Zambia you need to definitely look out for them. https://www.gamblinginsider.com/news/13965/colabet-launches-zero-margin-campaign-in-africa There is definitely a market in Africa and the laws are always a lot more "flexible" when it comes to gambling. I guess they are targeting the richest countries in Africa who will also have the more reliable internet connections - places like Nigeria or South Africa. They must be going for quantity of gamblers rather than the people with the highest incomes, however there is definitely a niche to be tapped. Let's hope they optimize every single file of their website for the smallest size, that way they'll be able to accommodate people who are on relatively small data plans or have slow download speeds depending on the phone network they use. |
|
|
|
More at source. I trimmed the article down to its most relevant parts.
It appears that a US federal government default is on the table. An event which has reached mythical proportions over the past century. Every year for the past 50+ years people warn the government could default and social security will collapse. This negative sentiment has become so common and widespread that over time americans have come to believe it can never happen. "Social security will fail." Oh but people have been saying it will fail for 50 years and it hasn't. This means social security can never fail.
As time passes and debt grows, our options and safety net for resolving these issues in a positive way, shrink.
If anyone has bright ideas for how these issues might be resolved. Now would be a good time to voice them.
A jump start on what could develop into a full blown crisis might also be a good policy.
The silly thing is, the US can print as much money as it likes (within reason) because it has a rather unique power of being the foremost reserve currency of the world and that gives it a lot of perks. If it prints more money it can devalue any debt denominated in US dollars, which of course is what the US government sells to other people all the time. So at present the only thing that would cause this calamity to happen is the grand standing of politicians of both parties who are trying to squeeze various concessions but could great amounts of unnecessary stress to lots of people with these doomsday headlines and both sides trying to weaken the other but never actually solving the problem - which is runaway spending habits, often on useless junk like overly generous military spending. |
|
|
|
Hello to all! Another topic about casinos and games. I started playing at the Stake.com quite often. At the very beginning I thought I would just play in the evening, but one evening turned into a constant game during the day. On the first deposit, I was lucky and I took out a little, it was x3 of my deposit and I was happy. Recently, I just started making stupid deposits and trying to win something and I understand that this is self-deception, but I cannot stop and make more and more deposits. I decided to make the 1st level of VIP, but for this I need to make a turnover of 10k dollars, but I am a player with low stakes and this is difficult for me to do. You seem to understand everything that you will lose, but you go to play again. How to get rid of gambling addiction?
Like any addiction, the only way to rid yourself of it is to truly want it and going "cold turkey" is probably the only way to do it. Hopefully the sites that you use offer some kind of opt-out mechanism as I've found those pretty helpful in the past. If you can self exclude then go for the maximum time allowed and simply find some other hobby to keep yourself busy instead, maybe download a free or cheap game (without microtransactions!) that can keep you entertained instead or head to twitch to watch other people as a form of free tv channel. Ultimately you need to learn how to break the habit yourself, try to identify any triggers that draw you back in and stay busy so your mind does not wander back to gambling. |
|
|
|
I recently got acquainted with a study where a company addressed the superstitions of people involved with sports betting. Some of them were as follows : 1. 71% of Americans feel “the stakes of the game are even higher when watching with friends or family, and love to up-the-ante by betting on the game’s outcome or a player’s performance." 2. 62% of the fans blame themselves for the loss of their teams 3. 38% people feel that they are bad luck and of them 84% were asked to leave the room during a game. 4. 59% always made friendly bets with their family or friends and insisted that they pay back with something weird or funny like taking tab off the bar or getting weird haircuts 2/3rd of the fans admitted to being superstitious. Source : https://www.gamblinginsider.com/news/13954/tipico-study-looks-into-sports-betting-superstitions-with-intriguing-results What do you think ? Are you superstitious as well while sports betting?? I guess some of these are connected to gambling, but things like the outcome of #3 seem a bit harsh really - why would so many people be so unkind as to tell friends or family to leave the room? Are they really that much of a downer to be around that you'd go to such lengths? I definitely see a lot of betting taking place between friends, like whoever loses at golf has to buy the round of drinks at the bar and I think that's a long standing tradition in most games. You'll also often see football fans wearing their lucky shirts or whatever other piece of clothing game after game, although they clearly have no impact on the outcome of the game, whatever gives people extra hope is always a good thing. |
|
|
|
https://www.economist.com/britain/2021/11/18/britains-inequalities-are-spelt-out-in-its-surnamesA recent research presented in the article above indicates that most people don't move , geographically speaking. It is curious how most people are (randomly?) born somewhere and they tend to look for the opportunities to make a living on that place, do not go too far or think that they actually enjoy the freedom of deciding to go to anywhere else in the world unless they have serious pressing motivation (hunger, crime,...). Reading this, I could not help but think that people also "don't move" in monetary terms. They are born in a certain region and they do not think that their money might very well better in some other form (e.g. bitcoin). The reality is a lot of places mentioned at the beginning of the article were (maybe it has changed in the last decade) just not that interesting. Sure they possess a certain charm to the locals, much like anywhere you call home might hold a special place in your heart - but they were many times built as functional towns of industry or simply small scale "market" towns. They were never built to draw in tourist activity because they simply don't have the scale to accommodate that compared to somewhere like London or Edinburgh. People also don't tend to move very far because most tend to want to stay somewhat near to family and live in an already densely packed country, so just 50 miles away might give enough "distance". |
|
|
|
Hey guys, what do yout think about a new game, which involves both luck and skill like poker? Is there already such an alternative on the market? The problem with poker is that it is already solved by algorithms. Sure, there are still some players, but not as much as in the old glory times... Edit: I'm just regarding games that you can play PvP and not against a house-edge-casino..  Poker is not "already solved by algorithms" and that goes a long way to explain why it is still so popular. When you are playing between several players then bluffing, which is outside the bounds of any algorithm calculation, can often come into play. If people see you playing a really tight game, then they expect that you are sticking to pot odds and will raise above the point where mathematically it makes sense for you to stick in the hand. There are a huge number of players online, many tens of thousands at any moment in time - definitely more than in the past, you just need to know where the busiest sites are. Anyway, if you're looking to create a new game then maybe come up with some idea similar to Chess which also has many billions of possible combinations to victory. |
|
|
|
Apple CEO Tim Cook have invested on cryptocurrency. He has disclosed it in a recorded interview. He mentioned it as part of his diversified portfolio. His investment was from his personal point, and Apple doesn't have any plans of investing/accepting cryptocurrency. This is a big news, and were into discussion around the social media platforms. Majority of the huge company CEO's own crypto. This is a big thing and an indication of growth of cryptocurrency network. Source : The VergeIt's always great news for Bitcoin when we hear of these multi billionaires having enough faith in crypto to start diversifying into it. These people are also the ultimate level of collector - they have massive streams of income, far more than they spend, coming in every day. That means that they'll be constantly buying more and it doesn't even make a dent in their wealth. At this level it will also become a kind of measuring contest, where they can afford to buy thousands of Bitcoins if it means extra bragging rights within their circle of elite friends. Even better when they announce it to the world instead of just slowly accumulating it and keeping the secret behind closed doors. |
|
|
|
a law maker Cayetano in our country Philippines calls for the rejection of legeslative bills for the successive passing of franchise bills for online cockfight betting firms. reason is, many lives had already been ruined because of the online "sabong" in the country. there was a news about a local celebrity who loses his fortune because of online betting. the article mentions the lad who was arrested for failing to pay debt of more than $10k. Online cockfighting and gambling have been described by former Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano as the “new pandemic” that requires immediate government action in order to save Filipino families from social, moral and economic degradation. https://mb.com.ph/2021/11/22/cayetano-online-sabong-gambling-are-the-new-pandemic/not sure if he will suceed with his campaign. its governed by the big boys in the country namely Atong Ang. it could just be Cayetanos election gimmick since he is running for a position again but he has a good intention. anyone who isnt from philippines, may really find this animal cruelty which may only exist underground but this cockfighting is already part of the culture. even when i was a kid i already been exposed to mini cockfighting arena every festival where people bet for the lives of the roosters. government is also earning from these betting firms which is why its becoming a usual to approve bills. should the government risk the teens today knowing that cockfighting arenas can routinely operate everyday online? Frankly cockfighting should be banned in every civilized country because it is just a blood sport involving two animals that are pitted against each other, often with razors added, to inflict the most violence. The whole thing is barbaric regardless of the betting aspect. It's a real shame that people have to bet on such "sports" when I bet a lot of them are supposedly religious, who are meant to spread the joy of God instead of spilling blood for entertainment purposes. There are so many gambling games out there already that can be played digitally without harming any animals, so let's hope he succeeds at banning it and making the Philippines a slightly better place. |
|
|
|
|
Show Posts
