Posting for this subsection:

Slot-machine streaming

People watch the NBA because they enjoy seeing world-class athletes accomplish physical feats that ordinary mortals couldn’t do, and because they enjoy the drama of a hard-fought basketball game. I gather that people watch streamers play video games for basically similar reasons: Some people are good at video games, and if you enjoy video games but are less good at them you might enjoy watching the top players play, and also video games are designed to be fun and exciting, so watching someone play one will give you some dramatic entertainment.

Similarly, I suppose that if you watched someone who was very good at slot machines play a very exciting slot machine, you would derive similar pleasure from it, but (1) no one is good at slot machines, which are games of random chance with huge house edge, and (2) no slot machines are exciting, so this seems unlikely. And yet!

A new class of niche celebrities have turned the once-solitary experience of gambling at casino slot machines into a spectator sport with millions of viewers and fan camaraderie. Using monopods or videographers to film the action, the players spend hours talking audiences through the highs and lows of jackpots and losses.

“It’s fun to watch somebody else play with their money while you’re sitting on your couch drinking a beer,” said Wayne Deck, a 60-year-old in Fairfax, Va., who watches Christopher online and visits casinos in-real-life.

I don’t see how that could be. None of these people (or any other people) are good at slot machines, but I guess they’re good at social media:

Brian Christopher lost $300,000 gambling on slot machines in casinos last year. Hundreds of thousands of people cheered him on, from the comfort of their own homes. … Christopher declined to provide his total revenue, but said he makes enough to turn a profit after paying his staff and the $300,000 in gambling losses.

Some celebrity slots players disclose their losses as a badge of honor—a signal they’re being honest about the odds. Francine Maric, a full-time high-roller known as Lady Luck HQ, posts her win-loss statements from casinos. She said she lost $320,000 last year, but still made a profit thanks to advertising revenue and sponsorships.

Well, I am vastly more skilled at slot machines than these people, in that I have never lost $300,000, or even $300, playing slot machines. I should livestream myself not losing $300,000 a year at slot machines. Just like walk by a row of slots with a videographer and turn confidingly to the camera and whisper “my winning strategy here is to keep walking.” It’s correct! And not more boring than watching me play slots.