Though you can’t actually place bets on the popular Chinese-owned video sharing website, it’s nonetheless become a hotbed of TikTok influencers — think ‘salespeople’ — who specialize in promoting gambling, principally the online variety.
They’re mostly young themselves, as is their target audience, and dedicated to portraying gambling as a far more fun, safe, and profitable activity than it really is.
But now comes a former consumer, only 23 and already in recovery from a serious gambling addiction, to bring a different message to TikTok. At the moment, he appears to be a lone voice in the wilderness, but that can change quickly.
Here’s a link:
It’s David v Goliath’: a recovering addict takes on TikTok’s gambling influencers
He may not adhere to the tradition of personal anonymity, but I suppose forums such as TikTok represent a kind of new world, where fans live their lives in public view, the way Hollywood celebs seem to.
Still, it’s hard to argue with the sincerity of his message, and he does fit the TikTok demographic (I don’t, by the way). Here’s a brief sample of his work on a similar photo sharing site.
It appears the demand for the message is real. His original home-produced short video is said to have garnered more than a million views. And he feels this is the best way to reach the 10% of viewers who he suspects have already developed, or are very likely to develop, a gambling disorder.
As for the other 90%, the implication is they’ll continue to gamble (and for the most part, lose) without becoming compulsive about it.
Maybe they’ll be like my father, who once took the family out to see the new riverboat casino that had just opened on the Missouri. I watched him put a quarter in a slot machine. Fifteen minutes later, however, he was still there, at the machine, but not playing at all.
When I asked why he stopped, he explained that he was up $11 and figured this would be a good moment to quit. While he was ahead.
Now that’s a smart gambler. And a valuable lesson for young TikTok’ers.
