If gambling should be legal, then so surely should malicious advertising right?

Predatory advertising, gambling, they both prey on people.

Cards on the table, I think both advertising and gambling should be heavily controlled.

In a capitalist system, gambling has a lot of negative externalities that go far beyond the individuals participating. It must be carefully controlled. In some countries like Monaco, citizens can’t gamble, but foreigners can do so freely.

My position is that every country should do what Monaco is doing, except if a citizen want the foreigner treatment, they can abandon whatever social benefits that would be harmed by gambling and be allowed to gamble or partake in activities that harms themselves only.

Many developed countries are struggling with birth rates for example. Should that be regulated? It is harming countries much more than gambling could ever have. The whole right-wing resurgence happening across western democracies is a direct consequence of lower birth rates demanding offshoring and immigration.

Yeah let's do some forced births!

Reminds me of some proposals to pay people for having kids.

The kind of folks who will take that offer are more likely to be terrible parents.

Thanks for understanding the absurdity.

Let's also legalize crack and heroin. Getting addicted to fent is a person's natural right.

Yes, I sincerely agree. But the person that sells them the poison has to make sure they are of sound mind and fully understand the consequences. So long as a person is well informed and of sound mind, I don't see the problem. I'm even for putting their names in a registry so that they won't receive any social welfare benefits in the future if they go down that route. But outright jailing people, that's insane. Imagine eating something unhealthy and suddenly you're serving 25 years in prison for it. What is happening is only mildly less absurd.

Oppression is not the only alternative to legalization. Just because your country's policy on drug addiction is very misguided and does more harm than good doesn't mean the solution is to legalize everything.

Anyway, my point, that you seem to have completely missed, is that some rules that Americans would reflexively dismiss with a thought-terminating cliche like "nanny state" are in fact necessary. You wouldn't want the road to be a free for all, would you? Well, I don't want psychological warfare to be legal and used to trick my neighbor into losing vast sums of money to online platforms. Poor, addicted citizens make the country worse for everyone.

Also, "But the person that sells them the poison has to make sure they are of sound mind" made me laugh. When has it ever been in the business owner's interest to vet his clients? Legalize fent and in a year, half the superbowl ads will be selling you drugs in rainbowy attention-grabbing displays of decadence.

False equivalencies. Roads are shared, gambling is not. psychological warfare is against the masses and is being done under deception against targets, gambling is not, and despite that, it is your neighbors problem,not yours in that example.

The bit about poor addicted citizens (if it actually is the cause,instead of welfare and similar things), it sounds like your priority is improving the economy despite its effects on people's rights?

> When has it ever been in the business owner's interest to vet his clients?

When not doing so could mean serious consequences, like capital punishment or life in prison.

>> So long as a person is well informed and of sound mind, I don't see the problem

Someone high on heroin or going through withdrawal from heroin is not of sound mind.

But they were of sound mind before their first hit of heroin, were they well informed then? if not, punish the seller not the user.

Why is gambling your natural right, but advertising not mine?

advertising is your right, so long as the venue of advertisement is owned by you or you get the owner's permission. What isn't your right is being deceptive and fraudulent with your advertising. It is just free speech otherwise. I'd say you have an even stronger right to advertise than to gamble, just not advertise deceptively.