[00:02] effort a person exerts and the money they earn. Effort, whatever its nature, has been the primary method of acquiring wealth. Therefore, one of the most common definitions of work is that it's a model where an individual
[00:17] model where an individual works in exchange for a specific financial reward. Generally speaking, we can say there's a direct relationship between the amount and type of effort a person puts in and the amount of money they earn. However, in recent decades, attempts have emerged to circumvent
[00:33] this established relationship between effort and money. The common thread among these attempts is the search for an easy and quick way to earn money and create wealth. This phenomenon has a very large following,
[00:46] but the two most prominent groups within this audience are young people and those with limited incomes. These two groups try to find quick shortcuts that enable them to earn a lot of money in a short time. In reality, there's nothing
[00:58] better than that; everyone loves to earn a lot of money quickly. And if we exclude methods like lot of money quickly. And if we exclude methods like theft and fraud, the chances of earning are slim.  Making a lot of money in a short time without significant or exceptional effort is extremely unlikely. You
[01:13] might earn money quickly, and it probably won't be a lot, but building wealth quickly is very difficult. Those who amassed wealth that wasn't inherited needed
[01:25] considerable time and effort to build it. Even then, in reality, only a very small minority of these people are successful, compared to the many who followed the same path and failed or didn't achieve the same level of success. We all
[01:37] want to be rich and have wealth, but not all of us succeed. These are supposed to be basic truths we all know, but some people ignore these basic facts and desperately
[01:49] ignore these basic facts and desperately try to defy them, driven by unrealistic dreams of getting rich quick. These dreams are fueled by people whose business is selling this very illusion because they know it has many followers. While some are chasing
[02:04] this mirage, they become easy prey for scams, fraud, and false promises that don't just... You make money, but you also make deals, lose what little money he has, increase his debts, and cause him
[02:16] has, increase his debts, and cause him sadness and depression. In some cases, it even pushes him towards suicide. The promise of quick riches is linked to many methods, but one of the most famous and recently emerged methods is betting apps, which are betting applications or
[02:32] gambling apps that have spread rapidly online in recent years. For those of you who don't know, the idea behind these apps is simply that they allow their users to place bets with money against each other, predicting the outcome of sporting events. In other words, it's an online betting hall.
[02:49] Although these apps are illegal in most Middle Eastern countries, they have become illegal in most Middle Eastern countries, they have become very widespread here and have a large following. These apps have a large following here, in short, because many people seek to
[03:03] make money through them, seeing it as an easy and quick way. But the truth, which many people don't know, is that betting apps or gambling apps are one of the  The dumbest and most ineffective ways to make money. If you think you can make money or amass wealth from these apps,
[03:20] make money or amass wealth from these apps, you're most likely delusional and don't understand the game you're playing. In today's episode, I'll explain to you that betting apps are the easiest and fastest way to poverty. I don't know if you remember me or not, but I'm Ashraf Ibrahim, the economic idiot.
[03:35] Ashraf Ibrahim, the economic idiot. [Music] Plus, in 1994, IBM introduced the world's first smartphone, the Simon Persson Communicator. This device had features like
[03:51] email, fax, and a screen, and it was revolutionary at the time. However, the biggest revolution in the mobile phone industry and the true beginning of multifunctional smartphones came in 2007 when the American company Apple introduced its most famous product ever, the iPhone. The
[04:07] introduced its most famous product ever, the iPhone. The launch of the iPhone took the smartphone industry to another level because, in one way or another, it pushed Apple's competitors, especially South Korea's Samsung, into a race to develop smartphones.  Faster, more
[04:23] efficient, and more advanced, this competition intensified starting in 2010. From 2010 until today, the starting in 2010. From 2010 until today, the smartphone industry has gone through many stages until its form changed in terms of both hardware and software. Smartphones have become, firstly,
[04:38] very advanced and have an endless number of features and characteristics, to the point that they have become a collection of devices in one. On the other hand, the prices of these phones, in their various categories, have become affordable for the vast majority of people. These factors together have contributed to the
[04:54] terrifying spread of smartphones. Today, there are more than 6.5 billion smartphones in the hands of people worldwide, and most of these phones are connected to the internet in areas where the internet is covered. The smartphone, on the one hand, and the internet, on the other, have made the whole world a
[05:10] small village. With the click of a button, any smartphone user connected to the internet can access smartphone user connected to the internet can access anything, anywhere, as long as it is available online. In the past, people who were interested in practicing gambling or betting professionally were  She has to
[05:25] go herself to the places where these activities take place, like casinos, gambling halls, and racetracks. But in our time, anyone can gamble or
[05:37] bet as long as they have a smartphone. Smartphones have provided us with ease of access to many things that most of us couldn't easily reach before. According to Donald Nowak and Ariel Aloo, researchers at the University of Buffalo, this is one of the main reasons behind the
[05:53] spread of gambling among young people, especially university students. These researchers say there are five main reasons that lead university students to fall into the problem of gambling. They university students to fall into the problem of gambling. They call these five reasons the "Five Es." The
[06:08] call these five reasons the "Five Es." The first is the availability of betting opportunities for young people. As I told you, anyone with a smartphone today can bet or gamble in minutes. The second reason is the
[06:25] mainly due to the spread of  Betting and its easy accessibility via mobile phone: Those who want to gamble no longer need to go to a casino or gambling hall. Many people dislike these places and are afraid to enter them due to social stigma. But the smartphone has changed this story and made people feel less
[06:42] guilty about this practice. The third reason is exposure to wide-spread advertising, or widespread exposure to advertisements for betting and gambling applications. Today, these application ads are ubiquitous and appear everywhere, increasing the chances of
[06:59] young people responding to them and falling into the trap of these applications. The fourth reason, according to researchers, is access to spinning money. This means that the young person has money at their disposal that allows them to start betting with it in the applications, or they can access money that isn't theirs by borrowing, for example, from those
[07:16] around them or from the bank via credit card, to begin their journey with these applications. The fifth and final reason is age. Young people are more likely to engage in...  The behaviors involved are high-risk. A young man in university is more open and
[07:31] willing to risk his money than a married man with children. These, in short, are the factors contributing to the spread of betting apps among large numbers of young people in recent years. This is on a general or collective level. When
[07:46] you look at this phenomenon from an individual perspective, at the level of the individuals themselves, and try to understand why this particular young man bets his money on these apps and is convinced that he can win money from them, even though it is a game with rules and is governed by chance and luck, we will find the answer
[08:02] revolves around an illusion that controls the minds of the vast majority of users of these apps. This illusion is called by Ellen Langer, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, the illusion of control or the illusion of
[08:14] control. The illusion of control is simply the idea that you control something or influence it, while control something or influence it, while in reality, that thing is completely outside your control and you have no influence over it. For this reason, many people have a great deal of confusion between  Luck and skill in
[08:30] betting are more related to luck than skill. When you go to a betting app and bet on a specific team's win in a particular match, and that team actually wins, you're just lucky, not necessarily a skilled bettor. Anything can happen in the match that changes
[08:46] the result at any moment, and that's something completely beyond your control. Despite this, most young people go into betting apps thinking they're smarter than
[08:58] others and that they can tell a winning bet at a glance. This feeling increases when they win a bet or two, especially if they win them one after the other. This reinforces their feeling that they're the smartest among their siblings,
[09:10] when in reality they're not much different from the village idiot in the famous Indian story. There's a well-known tale about a man who lived in a small village. Every morning, he would leave his house and go to a specific spot in the village square, taking a flag, a
[09:25] flute, and his first  He arrives at his usual spot, sits down, showers the world, blows his horn, and then runs home, beaming with joy. This goes on every day until the villagers decide to ask him why he does this. Our friend replies, "I do it
[09:43] to keep elephants away from the village so they don't come near us." The village elder tells him, " Son, there aren't any elephants in our area." Our friend, with a confident smile, replies, "The elephants don't come because I'm doing a good job." This man's belief that no elephants enter
[10:00] his village because he's strong, in control, and skilled at what he does is, in reality, a delusion. It's not much different from the delusion that controls the minds of people who imagine they have some control over the results of
[10:12] betting on the apps that are so popular these days. Firstly, this isn't true, and secondly, it's very dangerous. Let me tell you why: when you enter these apps and bet your money...  There are two possibilities. The first is that you lose your bet, and of course, losing is upsetting, but that's
[10:28] not the real problem or danger. The real danger begins with your reaction to the loss. For example, someone bets $100 and loses. This person either gets scared and stops
[10:40] betting, thus losing only the $100, or they stubbornly continue and bet again to recoup their losses. This is what's called "lost trumpeting" or chasing losses.
[10:52] Most people who gamble or bet fall into this trap. They imagine they did something wrong in the first bet where they lost, so they can rectify it in the new bet and win to recover their in the new bet and win to recover their losses. But this is an illusion of control, even if they
[11:07] actually win their new bet. In reality, the vast majority of losers don't recover their losses; on the contrary, they lose even more money, and some continue until they lose all their money. And there are even more people...  Miserable people borrow money just to keep going down the
[11:25] path of chasing losses. If these people stopped for a moment and looked at the bigger picture, they'd find themselves falling into a hole that gets deeper with every gamble. They lose 100, then see it as 20,000, then lose that too. They bet 400, win the 400, feel like they've
[11:43] finally got it, and then see it as 1,000, get slapped down, and lose again. They try to make up for the lost 1,000, lose again, and so on, stuck in this vicious cycle until they sell their clothes or are forced to
[11:55] commit acts they would never have done under normal circumstances, like stealing, scamming, or even committing suicide, as has happened and continues to happen all the time with gambling addicts. The smart thing to do is
[12:07] addicts. The smart thing to do is not gamble at all. Financially speaking, it's a recipe for disaster and the quickest path to poverty, and no intelligent person understands this game well.  And he understands what motivates him to put his money in it except to have fun, nothing more. But if you do
[12:23] bet, you must stop immediately, even if you win. This point leads me to the second possibility that any gambler faces: winning. In this case, many people fall into the trap of the other side of the chase, which is win-chasing, or chasing a win. You win once, so you enjoy the excitement and
[12:41] get a good dose of dopamine, so you just enjoy it and imagine you can do it again. So you bet with a bigger amount and maybe win again, so you bet with an even bigger amount until you lose a loss that breaks your back. Then you keep betting with bigger amounts to compensate for the wins you had and
[12:57] lost. The dangerous thing here is that you do this while thinking about the wins you made in the past and imagining that you can somehow repeat them, and this usually doesn't happen. Now,
[13:09] someone might say to me, "Uncle Ashraf, we know that gambling and betting are forbidden, but why are you so pessimistic?" No one ever wins anything from betting apps. I'd say no, many people win a lot of bets every day on these apps, but in the long run, when we look at their
[13:24] net bets, we'll find that the vast majority of them are either losing money or have very small winnings that don't justify the magnitude of the problems they face
[13:36] because of their involvement in this activity. These problems include, in addition to financial losses, deteriorating relationships with those around them, job loss, or falling prey to illnesses like depression. This point about depression brings me to a very important aspect of the betting phenomenon. Despite the fact that
[13:53] betting has become widespread, both here and globally, especially in the United States, young people are still keen to do it secretly, away from those around them. As I mentioned earlier, anyone with a phone in their pocket, internet access,
[14:08] and some money can easily enter the world of betting without obstacles. In this case, the probability  If someone around you notices what you're doing on your phone, your ability to keep yourself hidden and avoid prying eyes only makes you more entrenched in the habit. It can even
[14:25] eyes only makes you more entrenched in the habit. It can even your life. That's why gambling addiction is called a
[14:37] hidden addiction. A drug addict, for example, might show their signs, making it obvious to those around them who might try to help or avoid them. A gambling addict, however, doesn't display any physical signs that
[14:49] anyone can recognize, making it easier for them to remain immersed in the addiction. If gambling reaches in the addiction. If gambling reaches the point of addiction, it can very well destroy your life. Even if it doesn't reach that level, it will most likely cost you your money. Listen, guys, let me give
[15:05] you the bottom line: the betting apps that are so widespread today have four main players who run and control the business.  Three parties win, and one party loses. The
[15:17] losing party is the bettors as a group. When you look at the result of their performance, you find a net loss. This net loss is actually a gain for the three parties I'll tell you about. The three parties I'll tell you about. The first party that wins with us is the marketing apps or companies
[15:31] themselves, who take a percentage of the value of the times they are used on their app or platform. They profit whether the times they are used on their app or platform. They profit whether second party that also wins is the people who recruit them and bring them to the
[15:47] app. Some of you may have heard of affiliate marketing, but for those who don't know, it's simply an agreement between a skilled marketer and a business owner. The marketer's job is to create ads for the business owner, and when they bring in customers through them, they receive a commission. This commission
[16:04] can be a fixed amount or a percentage. The same idea applies to this story.  The betting app ads are everywhere. These ads are usually placed by affiliate marketers who are waiting for you to click on their ad, then they take you
[16:20] by the hand and direct you to the betting app, telling them, " Take this good guy." As soon as you register on the app, deposit money into your account, and start betting, the marketer who brought you here takes a commission.
[16:32] Sometimes the commission is a percentage of the money you'll lose, God willing. Of course, these ads aren't random and don't reach everyone. The targeting here is based on precise information collected about you. That's why
[16:46] certain types of people see these ads more than others. The two groups most likely to see these betting ads are: first, people who used to bet before and stopped; these people keep pestering them until they fall back in; and second, people with limited income who
[17:02] are struggling financially and looking for any way to improve their situation. With the limited funds available, these people are more likely than others to engage in gambling. This is confirmed by a study conducted by the Addiction Research Institute at the University at Buffalo, which indicated that
[17:18] the problem of gambling is more prevalent in impoverished neighborhoods. In reality, one of the affiliate marketers for betting apps says that low-income users are their most successful target group. How do they
[17:34] successful target group. How do they identify these individuals? Simply by identify these individuals? Simply by using data collection services for all internet users. Any marketer who wants data on a specific demographic
[17:48] simply buys the data or contact information of these individuals to target them. You, as a user, are literally being manipulated, with many parties exploiting you and profiting from your misfortune,
[18:00] while you imagine you're in control and only participating to make money. But you know what?  What's even worse is that you have no protection in developed countries like the
[18:12] United States and Britain, where gambling is legal. The government acts as a fourth party in this process. Its role is to enact legislation that allows citizens to gamble, but, as they put it, to gamble responsibly—meaning they can lose, but not too much, and they don't get stuck in a deep hole.
[18:29] For example, in 2020, Britain banned the use of credit cards for gambling. In short, you can't borrow from the bank and overdraw your credit card to gamble. This is, in one way or another, relative protection for
[18:45] the citizen or user. In return for the services it provides, the government takes a share of the money these apps make from you in the form of taxes. These taxes fall under what we call " sin taxes" or "line taxes." Here in the Arab world, generally speaking,
[19:01] gambling apps are illegal, and therefore there is no kind of protection.  Government protection for users is lacking because the government doesn't recognize this activity, making gambling here much more dangerous than anywhere else in the world. This activity is legal and somewhat deceptive, and in reality,
[19:18] many governments insist on banning gambling activities because of significant economic and social benefits. Gambling isn't a genuine economic activity that benefits any country; on the contrary, its impact on individuals and society far outweighs any potential benefits. That's why I consider it the fastest path to
[19:34] poverty and hardship. That's all for now. As usual, I have a question for you: If you had $10,000 today and needed to invest it, what would you invest it in, or how would you spend it? I'll be following
[19:46] if you enjoyed this episode and would like to see more, please subscribe to the channel. Stay tuned for new episodes, subscribe to the channel. Stay tuned for new episodes, God willing. [Music] Peace
[20:06] [Music] c