Today’s Big Story

Pocket Slots

Online casinos have proved to be a much stronger source of tax revenue than sports betting apps

Do you like to gamble? I’m all for a long weekend in Las Vegas, but I don’t mess with any of the online opportunities to bet. But I know it’s extremely popular. And while most Vegas casinos take sports bets, that’s not where the real money is. The bulk of their profit comes from games like slot machines and blackjack.

Apparently, the same happens digitally. Many states have legalized online sports betting in recent years, but a handful have learned the same lesson: If the goal is to increase tax revenue, the big money comes from allowing a full legal casino, slot machines and all, on your phone. Which makes it a whole lot easier to bet, over and over, again and again.

The New York Times’ Upshot dug into the data and it’s pretty compelling. For instance, Pennsylvania is one of seven states to have done that. It legalized both online casino gaming and online sports betting, for ages 21 and up, in 2017. By last year, the state was collecting $1.05 billion in taxes from digital casinos, compared with $188 million from sportsbook apps. The revenue from casino games is significant: Pennsylvania’s entire state budget is about $50 billion. The state taxes online slots at a higher rate, which explains some of the difference. But Pennsylvanians are also losing a lot more money to online casino games than they are on sports bets.

Thirty states now permit online sports betting, but only seven have legalized online casinos, though more may soon join in. A bill legalizing online casinos in Maine awaits the decision of Gov. Janet Mills, who has not signaled if she will sign it. Lawmakers in several other states, including Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio, are also considering allowing online casino gaming.

The seven states with legal online casinos collected a total of $2.1 billion last year from gambling apps, according to Legal Sports Report. Over the same period, online sportsbooks generated about $2.9 billion in tax revenue for the 30 states where they are legal. States with both have seen tax revenue from casino games far outpace revenue from sportsbooks. Is it because they’re so addictive? Or with sports betting, you’re tied to games in play.

Traditional slot machines were once the most common reason people called the problem gambling hotline run by the Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania. But in the years since the state legalized online gambling, online casino games have become the No. 1 reason for calls, far ahead of physical casinos and sports betting. Remember, the house always win.

Trump vs. Economic Reality

The president says Americans are doing great, even as views on the economy sour

President Donald Trump seemed to enjoy returning to a campaign-style event Tuesday night—the first of a series of speeches intended to alleviate Americans’ concerns about the cost of living. However, he spent most of the time mocking the term “affordability” and insisting that Americans were doing better than they had ever done before.

The president told the crowd that inflation was no longer a problem and that Democrats had used the term “affordability” as a “hoax” to hurt his reputation. Trump repeatedly confused slowing inflation down with bringing down prices—which would be deflation, with its own risks. “Our prices are coming down tremendously,” he insisted, before moving onto the top of immigration. Later, he said that “inflation is stopped.” But his own Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that as of September, inflation was running close to 3%, almost exactly where it was at the end of the Biden administration, and above the desired 2% level.

He displayed a chart comparing price increases under his predecessor, Joe Biden, to prices under his own watch to argue his case. But the overall inflation rate has climbed since he announced broad tariffs in April and left many Americans worried about their grocery, utility and housing bills. “Democrats talking about affordability is like Bonnie and Clyde preaching about public safety,” Trump said, but offered no new plans to tackle high prices or the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies that will mean doubled premiums for many Americans next year.

Can You Ban Kids From Social Media?

Australia is about to, but some teens are a step ahead

More than 1 million social media accounts held by users under 16 are set to be deactivated in Australia today in a divisive world-first ban that has inflamed a culture war and is being closely watched in the United States and elsewhere. Of course, as you might expect, it’s taking teens less than five minutes to outsmart the “world-leading” ban.

When a notification from Snapchat, one of the ten platforms affected, lit up one 13-year-old girl’s screen (warning she’d be booted off when the law kicked in if she couldn’t prove she was over 16), she told the BBC she sprang into action. “I got a photo of my mum, and I stuck it in front of the camera and it just let me through. It said thanks for verifying your age,” she said. “I’ve heard someone used Beyoncé’s face.”

The law comes after years of concerns that social media platforms can cause addiction, body image issues, depression and other mental health issues for teens, as well as potentially exposing them to bullying or sexual exploitation. Critics have raised free speech and privacy concerns, but Denmark and Malaysia are similarly planning to ban young teens from social media. In the United States, some lawmakers and political leaders have also advocated for more restrictive policies. Which begs the question: Could a social media ban for young teens really happen here?

The Long Read

A fast-growing Filipino chain is serving burgers and chicken that seem like typical American fare—until you taste them

Why wait?