ODAAT Gambling Awareness

Matt and Jack, the cofounders of Gamban, share their gambling addiction stories. 🤝 How I Quit Gambling: https://youtu.be/NurCWVRYVEY?si=zzmegEOfNIxqmomg 🙌 Gamban has just launched a new Discord platform for those looking to chat about gambling addiction and recovery in partnership with the CSGO team Ecstatic! Sign up here: https://discord.gg/mYJYCEN2ch How does someone go from betting small amounts to losing thousands in minutes? In this interview with the co-founders of Gamban, we break down exactly how modern gambling products are designed to escalate behavior, increase spending, and keep people playing longer than they ever intended. The reality is that gambling today is fundamentally different from what it was even 20–30 years ago. With faster games, higher bet limits, and constant access through smartphones, people are experiencing more betting activity in a single session than previous generations did over weeks or months. As a result, people are hitting rock bottom faster, younger, and with far more financial and emotional damage. We also dive into one of the most controversial topics in the industry: “responsible gambling.” Is it actually helping people, or is it shifting the blame onto individuals while ignoring the design of the products themselves? The Gamban founders explain why this messaging can be stigmatizing, misleading, and ultimately ineffective at reducing harm. This conversation also explores the role of regulation, why gambling companies cannot realistically self-police, and how practices like advertising, bonus structures, and high-speed betting environments contribute directly to rising levels of addiction. If you’ve ever wondered why gambling feels harder to control than it should… or why so many people are struggling with it today… this interview breaks it down in a way that makes it impossible to ignore. 🙏🏻 Recovery Resources: https://odaatgamblingawareness.com/resources 👀 Do you have a gambling addiction? Watch this to find out: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQirxbLdrgPmaejpuzCcnfWaFOaPt2mSu&si=_pg9d3S7ddsnX-xb 1️⃣ First day trying to stop gambling? Start here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQirxbLdrgPneNZshy-heKIhm9ftfqpwm&si=RgIHxiIJjC0Wi7yr 🧐 Recently Relapse? Watch This: https://youtu.be/QB2eJmU86Bk?si=vsTdyeXYhO4Kj1qz 😅 Subscribe To Avoid Making The Same Mistakes I Did: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH8s1lNHQbXzltQg_aXMAQA?sub_confirmation=1

Vin shares his gambling addiction story 🤝 How I Quit Gambling: https://youtu.be/ZUx9qIm4sNY Vin didn’t start gambling as an addict. He started like most people do… casually. A day at the racetrack, a few bets, and then something happened that changes everything for so many people: he won. That first win didn’t just give him money, it gave him a feeling he had never experienced before. A rush. A high. A level of mental stimulation that completely consumed him. Within months, gambling wasn’t just something he did. It became something he needed. In this episode, Vin shares how he went from a high school English teacher with a stable life, a wife, and a newborn baby… to living a double life consumed by gambling addiction for seven straight years. He wasn’t just betting occasionally, he was gambling every single day. Horse racing, lottery, sports betting, bookies—anything he could find action on, he bet. And like so many people struggling with gambling addiction, it stopped being about winning or losing. It became about being in action. That constant cycle of anticipation, betting, and chasing the next moment slowly took over his entire life. From the outside, everything looked fine. He had a career, he built successful businesses, and he was providing for his family. But behind the scenes, he was lying constantly, sneaking around, and draining everything he built into his gambling habit. He describes it best himself: he was stealing from himself. The money didn’t go toward his future or his family, it went right back into the cycle. And the worst part? He knew early on that it was out of control. This wasn’t a slow decline—he recognized the madness almost immediately and still couldn’t stop. That’s the reality of gambling addiction. It doesn’t wait years to take hold. It can happen fast, and once it does, it rewires how you think, how you spend your time, and what you prioritize. In this conversation, we break down how early wins hook people, why gambling becomes about action instead of money, what it’s like living a double life, how addiction escalates across different forms of gambling, and the impact it has on family, relationships, and identity. 🙏🏻 Recovery Resources: https://odaatgamblingawareness.com/resources 👀 Do you have a gambling addiction? Watch this to find out: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQirxbLdrgPmaejpuzCcnfWaFOaPt2mSu&si=_pg9d3S7ddsnX-xb 1️⃣ First day trying to stop gambling? Start here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQirxbLdrgPneNZshy-heKIhm9ftfqpwm&si=RgIHxiIJjC0Wi7yr 🧐 Recently Relapse? Watch This: https://youtu.be/QB2eJmU86Bk?si=vsTdyeXYhO4Kj1qz 😅 Subscribe To Avoid Making The Same Mistakes I Did: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH8s1lNHQbXzltQg_aXMAQA?sub_confirmation=1

We dive into the ways that big tech and big gamble are leveraging technology to maximize profit. 🤝 How I Quit Gambling: https://youtu.be/ZUx9qIm4sNY Report link: https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/how-facebook-profits-from-predatory-casino-games Katie Paul is the Director of the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), an information and research hub for journalists, academics, policymakers, and members of the public interested in exploring the influence of the major technology platforms on politics, policy, and our lives. TTP is a research initiative of Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life. More info here: https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/about-us Someone lost over $200,000 on a “free-to-play” casino game on Facebook… and they never even had a chance to win money back. In this episode, I sit down with Katie Paul from the Tech Transparency Project to break down how social media platforms are quietly enabling gambling-like behavior through unregulated games, targeted ads, and addictive algorithms. We talk about: How “free-to-play” casino games actually make money Why these games can be just as addictive as real gambling How platforms like Facebook profit from user losses The disturbing reality of ads being approved for teens Why there’s almost no accountability in this space If you’ve ever thought social casino games were harmless… this conversation will change your perspective. This is bigger than gambling. This is about how technology is designed to keep you hooked. 🙏🏻 Recovery Resources: https://odaatgamblingawareness.com/resources 👀 Do you have a gambling addiction? Watch this to find out: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQirxbLdrgPmaejpuzCcnfWaFOaPt2mSu&si=_pg9d3S7ddsnX-xb 1️⃣ First day trying to stop gambling? Start here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQirxbLdrgPneNZshy-heKIhm9ftfqpwm&si=RgIHxiIJjC0Wi7yr 🧐 Recently Relapse? Watch This: https://youtu.be/QB2eJmU86Bk?si=vsTdyeXYhO4Kj1qz 😅 Subscribe To Avoid Making The Same Mistakes I Did: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH8s1lNHQbXzltQg_aXMAQA?sub_confirmation=1