Interesting TV ad I saw today

[questions]

[ QUOTE ]
A woman enters the ER with acute liver failure because she has ingested something to kill herself. She does so because she lost the family's money playing online poker and her sons now hate her.

[/ QUOTE ]

Was that story based upon a real incident? It just sounds so extreme.

Legitimizing online poker could really reduce the risk of these sorts of scary scenarios. You could ensure fair dealing (reducing the appeal of playing at "bootleg" sites), while imposing relatively modest deposit limits - say, $100 per week (or whatever). You also require age verification, etc.

[Slim Pickens]

My first thought was...


I've stopped trying to care how people attempt to justify feelings like that. Any justification they give exploits the logical fallacy that correlation implies causation, but there's no explaining how and why it's wrong to people who want to believe it. It's like trying to argue religion with a devout practitioner. The only recourse is to put out a counter-perspective and let the few people who haven't already made up their minds decide.

[derosnec]

look at the way they are holding their cards. terrible. i'd be concerned too.

[Our House]

"In 1991, Atlantic City casinos refused entry to approximately 194,000 underage gamblers. However, over 21,000 had to be removed from the casino floor. (www.800gambler.org)"

Interesting. We didn't have any intarweb gambLOLing back in 1991, did we?

I guess minors also displayed this type of behavior before online games were available. Shocker!

[kidpokeher]

I sent feedback.

"What were you looking for today?"
A laugh.

"How helpful was the site?"
Very helpful.

"What would you like to see on the site?"
The truth.

[Head_Trauma]

I have seen this ad on tv, thanks for the link to their site. I live in WA and am embarrassed by this sh*t. Here was my feedback for them:

"Why does your TV spot show a young group of poker players playing a home game? Are you kidding me? You imply that a group of friends who have a Friday night poker game are somehow doing something wrong or are going to turn to drugs and violence. That is preposterous. Why does your ad talk about "problem gambling" and not show anything related to problem gambling?? Stop talking about booze and drugs while some kids have fun playing an American pasttime. What a ridiculous ad. Poker is not gambling, it is a game of both skill and luck in which skilled players can make money in the long run. Unfortunately, your ad shows some kids having a good time. What were you people thinking?"

[jimmyfingers]

i agree, hilarious. they're talking about problem gambling and gang fights and they show a group of kids who are probably playing a $1 tournament where the winner will go straight to 7-11 to buy a big gulp with his profits.

[Greenmachine]

they should do a commercial about kids who join frats.. those guys are way more likly to do all of those things