Humans Gamble since 3000BC, and Governments still try to ban

[bitmover]

I don't understand exactly why some governments ban gambling. Is it like a babysitter government, trying to protect citizens from themselves? Or are they worried about something else?
As gambling is highly profitable, government could make a lot of money by taxing those companies.

Here is a list I found with 10 countries where gambling is completely illegal.

United Arab Emirates
Brunei
Cambodia
North Korea
Japan
Singapura
Cyprus
Qatar
Lebanon
Poland
source:https://www.lawyer-monthly.com/2018/02/10-countries-where-gambling-is-completely-illegal/


The problem I see is that gambling is something humans always did. It is something in the human nature. We always ignore probability and think "I will be luck now, just once, and I will make money here" or something like that.

I looked at wikipedia, people gamble since 3000BC!

Gambling dates back to the Paleolithic period, before written history. In Mesopotamia the earliest six-sided dice date to about 3000 BC. However, they were based on astragali dating back thousands of years earlier. In China, gambling houses were widespread in the first millennium BC, and betting on fighting animals was common. Lotto games and dominoes (precursors of Pai Gow) appeared in China as early as the 10th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling

If government ban gambling, people will gamble illegally. Just like prohibiting drugs, people will still use drugs illegally,

[eternalgloom]

What? I had no idea that gambling was completely illegal in Poland.
I agree though, it's completely stupid to ban gambling, it's a huge source of income for the government that they're missing out on.

Like you said, people are going to gamble anyway, so why not get some taxes from it at least...

[cabalism13]

-snipped

Here in the Philippines they wouldn't ban those things, necessarily because the government is corrupt and they gain so much money on these casinos, they only see gambling as illegal if they don't seem to get tax on it just like JUETENG,... and other online casinos that isn't registered by SEC,... Within those said countries I don't know what's their reason but knowing from JAPAN, they have MAFIAs running gambling games so I'm really in shock that they're on the list.

Countries that bans gambling seems to think that they're good on handling their rules but they really didn't know that in specific places their are countless of them lurking in the shadows. Even if they continue banning those things it wouldn't be gone, especially for those who're in the government position (they're the most likely gamblers in the environment).

P.S You have a good trivia there, haven't known that since you started this topic.

[squatz1]

This information just isn't true.

Poland had casinos that are charted by the government to operate, so gambling isn't completetly banned in Poland. The islamic countries on this list are obviously going to ban gambling, as it doesn't fit in with their religion and isn't allowed to be played -- so that should be a given.

To japan now: Only certain types of gambling are banned, check out this quote from the WSJ:

Gambling is illegal in Japan, but the government has made exceptions for sports betting including horse, bicycle, motorcycle and motorboat racing, as well as some lotteries.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Gambling can be a tool used for money laundering I guess so some governments aren’t fond of it. Also some people get bad addictions & it impacts on their ability to pay bills which I guess can fuck up the economy if enough people are that dumb.

[carter34]

I didn't see Africa there in the above list. Does that mean that people in Africa are free to gamble their money any how that they want.

But in real time discuss, government is suppose to generate income from levying some amount on gambling site.

[Saisher]

Some of the countries banning gambling are mostly Muslim countries, it's understandable because it prohibits them although there are some Muslim regions  that allow them, North Korea is very obvious because people there are so poor that they do not have the means to gamble and they control everything, Gambling cannot be prevented by liberal and democratic countries, but countries that has full control of their citizen can impose that

[squatz1]

I didn't see Africa there in the above list. Does that mean that people in Africa are free to gamble their money any how that they want.

But in real time discuss, government is suppose to generate income from levying some amount on gambling site.

Common misconception buddy, Africa is a continent and not a country.

But onto the countries of Africa, I would assume that the Northern portion of Africa -- where most of the Muslim majority nations live, there's going to be no gambling. Yet again, this is due to the fact that Muslims can't engage in gambling.

The rest of the nations, towards the middle and lower half I would assume have theijr fair share of nations that restrict certain types of gambling, and others that don't restrict it at all. Though most of these nations are going to have one thing in common, they're most likely HEAVILY taxing all of the casinos and gambling establishments to make large amounts of money.

[tsaroz]

Gambling exist everywhere. There are a few countries which have officially declared gambling illegal inside them but that mostly doesn't include the traditional form of gambling and they don't care about online anonymous gambling. Even the so called hypocritic muslim countries can't always ban their citizens for gambling. Many such country considers gambling along with lending as well as music as evil. But I know most of it's is not true at present context.

[leowonderful]

There's tons of countries where gambling's extremely heavily regulated as well (one example being the U.S), especially online gambling, and I've found that a ton of crypto gambling sites don't even let me login or register accounts from an IP that's located in one of these countries. The good news is that this can be bypassed by simply using a VPN outside of these jurisdictions, but it sucks that even some crypto casinos filter out these countries.

[XCANA]

I didn't see Africa there in the above list. Does that mean that people in Africa are free to gamble their money any how that they want.

But in real time discuss, government is suppose to generate income from levying some amount on gambling site.

You could have mentioned your country and I can help if your country is  also among the Africa countries that prohibited gambling. Like my own country here; we are free to gamble which to me is neither pronounced legal or illegal here, but the beauty of this is: gamble until you are satisfy, and don't roar while you run at lost.

[TheCoinGrabber]

The world's oldest past-time, as old as the oldest profession prostitution.  

I would rather err on the side of regulation. Completely banning it would just put the industry in the hands of crime families. The government simply saying they won't allow it won't make people stop wanting to do it, as the Prohibition in the US has shown.

-snipped

Here in the Philippines they wouldn't ban those things, necessarily because the government is corrupt and they gain so much money on these casinos, they only see gambling as illegal if they don't seem to get tax on it just like JUETENG,... and other online casinos that isn't registered by SEC,... Within those said countries I don't know what's their reason but knowing from JAPAN, they have MAFIAs running gambling games so I'm really in shock that they're on the list.

Gambling is a constitutional right in the Philippines. LOL. Kidding aside, it truly is legal as long as you can prove you are having a wake. They also don't go after aunties spending their afternoons playing BINGO out in public.

[buwaytress]

I have a feeling that list is suspect, because there's definitely 100% gambling in Singapore. I've seen Casinos there and they regularly put job vacancies for them.

Brunei it is outlawed, correct, but their citizens drive to the border to gamble (illegal also).

Japanese gamble all the time, sportsbetting is small but legal there to my memory of several years ago and I'm pretty sure there are casinos being built right now in several big cities.

Anyway, child labour and prostitution have been done since 3000 BC. Why are governments still trying to ban those (see the bad logic of your argument?)

[bitmover]

Anyway, child labour and prostitution have been done since 3000 BC. Why are governments still trying to ban those (see the bad logic of your argument?)

Comparing child labor and gambling is quiet crazy don't you think?
You are not harming anyone by gambling.
And child labor is usually forced. Does anyone put an weapon in your head and force you to gamble inside a casino?

About prostitution, it is the same as gambling. Let people do whatever they want. And prostitution is legal is some countries

[crwth]

What I thought about when I was reading your topic is that when governments tend to ban something, they have a motive towards it, like how they would make something more valuable. Imagine, drugs are prohibited in some countries, and yet there are people who gain a lot of money from that. If it’s legal, it wouldn’t be priced at such a high rate, but if you make it legal, it’s going to lower in price. Not talking about what could happen to people when exposed to those kinds of stuff but we’re talking about the finance part only.

Maybe the mindset starting from 3000BC didn’t change that much because it’s still in a circle. Nothing so much change regards with the gambling industry. I know that if the government has the right leaders, they would be able to control the situations that arise from the people themselves.

Gambling is hard on it by itself, imagine making it legal. What do you see? What is our future?

[Upgrade00]

Let people do whatever they want. And prostitution is legal is some countries

It makes sense to allow people freely do whatever they want as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. In a way, it is a littlesimilar to the situation of cryptocurrency in many countries where governments outrightly ban or regulate it's use, tagging it a high risk venture.
They are sort of saying, let us do the thinking for the rest of you and are trying to protect their citizens from themselves.
Or maybe in those countries gambling is synonymous with some other activity which may be illegal.

[Coyster]

Making gambling illegal only worsens the case in those countries if you ask me, whether there is a ban on it or not, people would still gamble, whether it's covertly or overtly.
So rather than placing a total ban on what most people consider as a means of earning an income, what's much better to be done is to establish regulations and restrictions to betting companies, that way any violation of such laws would attract X punishment.

Gambling is no crime and should never be stopped, the government can try to advice people through various means to gamble wisely and warn them they are at a personal risk should they not.

[Ucy]

Alot of things are gambling but most people and governments don't want to admit it... Things like investing time and money to get employed but not getting picked amongst thousands of applicants.. Or investing in a legitimate investment but not making enough money.. 
Trying ones luck in lucrative but difficult-to-win things shouldn't be legal as long as they are not addictive and proven to be bad for the society.

I don't think hard drugs should be legal though.

[rosezionjohn]

They ban because they cannot control or regulate it, they only want people to buy lottery tickets instead on betting it on some games. They only allow lottery because they can earn from it.

[cabron]

Gambling is illegal in China. But this law I guess only applies to the mainland because if you have visited some place like Macua and Hongkong, they seem to have gambling house there. Most of the gamblers in Asia, high rollers are mostly Chinese. If you happen to watch some Asian news, the Chinese are expanding their casinos all over Asia just so they can party outside the mainland and legally do it somewhere else.

The governments can bann gambling but their citizen are still allowed to gamble somewhere, whats the point. They should just allow it and extract taxes from the casinos.