Everything is gambling now
Today, Explained

Everything is gambling now

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 25, 202625 min

From live auction sites like Whatnot to games like Monopoly Go!, mobile apps are now designed to addict kids as well as adults. This episode was produced by Danielle Hewitt, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore and Bridger Dunnagan, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Image courtesy Monopoly Go!, a free-to-play mobile board game developed by Scopely. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. New Vox members get $20 off their membership right now. Transcript at ⁠⁠vox.com/today-explained-podcast⁠.⁠ Learn mo...

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So Sean found himself on this app and he wasn't spending too much in the very beginning,

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

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0:00

Sean Harding is a 45-year-old finance manager from Denver. So Sean found himself on this app and he wasn't spending too much in the very beginning, maybe a hundred or a few dollars a day. And then within 40 days he was spending over $1,000, $5,000 a day.

0:19

Just swiping whenever he could really get a free moment when he was doing laundry, sitting on the toilet. And it was only when his wife confronted him about this odd behavior, about some missing pages on his credit report,

0:35

that he really looked at what he had spent, and that number was crazy. It was $1.3 million in four months. He had borrowed money from a friend.

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