A controversial question

[hyudien]

Some may consider this a controversial question: Should governments be making profit from the gambling industry and use said profit for public services?

My answer is mandatory because they are people who work for the people, so profits from gambling, whether taxes or other sources, must be used for the welfare of the people especially since this industry has grown rapidly and generated substantial profits, as is the case with cigarettes, but if they restrict gambling, what will they gain? Nothing, so they must be open to gambling.

[Satofan44]

Some may consider this a controversial question: Should governments be making profit from the gambling industry and use said profit for public services?

It is not a controversial question. Pretty much almost everyone who would say no is biased in one way or another. They may be drinkers, they may be smokers or may be using other things that are legal but harmful. They would not say the same for the things that they engage in, thus making them bias and their opinion irrelevant.

It will only be hypocritical if they are restricting gambling but wanting to get benefits from it.

No. All things that are detrimental to some extent are limited even though we desire to derive benefits from them. Purchasing alcohol and cigarettes is restricted for this same reason, there is nothing hypocritical about it. It is actually the sensible thing to do. Limit harm as much as possible in a way that balances the negatives with the benefits that can be attained.

According to business Research gambling industry is rn $545 Billion Us dollar in 2024. So using this industry to generate a revenue and use this on insfatrure build will going to be helpful. Let's say not everyone is connected with gambling. Those who have some kind of earning source are spending on gambling. So use the tax money to help homeless people won't be bad.

This could help lots of people to have their own home, some may get opportunity to have their living.

Using money to build homes is not a good idea. Homeless people are homeless most often for a good reason and they are not accustomed to normal living anymore. That would be a socialist measure that usually backfires. It would be better to optimize infrastructure and the economy in any way that drives benefits. Anyhow, the problem with government is not the collection of tax it is the spending of tax. There is enough money, but most of it is wasted or used in bad ways.

[Findingnemo]

The government should be treating each penny of tax collected in the same way, whether it is coming from gambling or from the charity, the goal of all taxes is just to give it back to the people, so yeah that is how they should be doing it. They may choose to ban if they are in a stong position that they can do all these things without getting any revenue from the casino's revenue.

[348Judah]

There's no time they haven't been making profits from gambling industries, maybe now should only be the time they may have to be more effective in the utility of the funds for the developments the people needs in our society today, there are lots of money earned in which they don't account for how it was been spent, that is why we can't assume that the government are truly fighting for us or against us by what they get and how it was being used.

[Floxynice]

Gambling is a business. The owners and operators of gambling platforms earn profits from these platforms whether offline or online, so why should they be excluded from generating revenue to the government? To answer your question , I will say yes the government should make profits from the gambling industry. But if they must do this, they must do well to properly regulate the gambling industry and properly protect the casinos and gamblers because they are the ones who generate this money which is in turn used for public service. Any government who is yet to legally recognise gambling has no business taxing them.

[Mate2237]

Just as you have said every industry in a countries economy is important and contributes equally to the development of the country via the tax that is sent to the government as tax. Casinos register as Companies which are primarily set up for profits making so it's expected that such companies will pay tax which will be used for the overall development of the country that they find themselves. What ever government decides to do with the money gotten from the tax is not the concern of anyone including the casino or citizens.



Government can decide to use the money in fixing roads, Hospital or even use it for buying military equipment, what is important is that the tax has been paid by the company because any company that doesn't pay tax will be in problem with the government. Because tax is a social cooperate responsibility of the company in contributing to the development of the country that they find themselves.

[rachael9385]

Some may consider this a controversial question: Should governments be making profit from the gambling industry and use said profit for public services?

But my answer for this question is yes there should be no problem with the government making use of the gambling industry because to me the gambling industry is just almost the same as other industries where the country makes their money from like tourism for example. All the industries have its own negative effects and gambling has too so I do not see any reason why the govt shouldn't be taking advantage of the gambling industry,

It will only be hypocritical if they are restricting gambling but wanting to get benefits from it.

This isn't actually controversial, if the government of a country don't try to set up measures to restrict gambling activities they can use this as a way to generate revenue but only if the system isn't corrupt. In my country no industry would allow the government to tax them because these funds wouldn't be used for the development of the country at the end of the day, this law can't work in every country

[swogerino]

Some may consider this a controversial question: Should governments be making profit from the gambling industry and use said profit for public services?

But my answer for this question is yes there should be no problem with the government making use of the gambling industry because to me the gambling industry is just almost the same as other industries where the country makes their money from like tourism for example. All the industries have its own negative effects and gambling has too so I do not see any reason why the govt shouldn't be taking advantage of the gambling industry,

It will only be hypocritical if they are restricting gambling but wanting to get benefits from it.

That is what happens to most of us, I mean to most countries government tries and finds a way to stop gambling for the majority of people and also trying to benefit from high taxes from the business. Now I don't know if the USA is still crazy asking people to pay a % of their winnings from gambling as tax to the state, well to be more precise some states in there had this rule, someone who won from gambling should have paid some taxes to the state but if the person lost money no refunds or some kind of assistance to help those people. Most likely should not be going on as it has been many many years since I left my home country while working in the Balkans but yeah some states there are crazy. Most governments are hypocritical to say the least, they use at least double standard for different categories of people, they put in jail poor ones for example but are very cautious when dealing with very rich people.

[Beparanf]

This isn't actually controversial, if the government of a country don't try to set up measures to restrict gambling activities they can use this as a way to generate revenue but only if the system isn't corrupt. In my country no industry would allow the government to tax them because these funds wouldn't be used for the development of the country at the end of the day, this law can't work in every country

In my country, casino is heavily taxed but the main issue is the government using the funds just to be corrupted by the government officials. Small percentage will go to the project while the rest to the pocket of corrupt politicians.

We have a national lottery that is dedicated for charity works but now with current administration almost everyday winning the jackpot lottery that result to many speculation that they are cheating the results just to claim the price.

[Africolo]

Some may consider this a controversial question: Should governments be making profit from the gambling industry and use said profit for public services?

There's nothing controversial about this question as the gambling industry is generating income from the citizens as that of other industries that the government taskes to pay revenue, the government can actually be getting some percentage from the gambling industry and use it for public service.

If this monies are be taxed and levied on all gambling industries,  such money can be used in building roads, schools, hospital and markets for the public to use,  in Nigeria I don't know if there's any law or reforms that makes it mandatory for gambling industries to pay tax to the government and if this tax is been paid, will it be used for public service?, or will be embezzled by government officials in charge of it. In a country where the government is not restricting gambling, then it's not controversial if they generate money from them to  service the needs of the public.

[Josefjix]

Some may consider this a controversial question: Should governments be making profit from the gambling industry and use said profit for public services?

But my answer for this question is yes there should be no problem with the government making use of the gambling industry because to me the gambling industry is just almost the same as other industries where the country makes their money from like tourism for example. All the industries have its own negative effects and gambling has too so I do not see any reason why the govt shouldn't be taking advantage of the gambling industry,

It will only be hypocritical if they are restricting gambling but wanting to get benefits from it.

Yeah of course, as long as the government charges some amount of money as a form of revenue from the gambling industry is the paramount thing they should do, whatever they do with the funds is actually for the community whichever way, gambling industry I think pays the highest revenue if I am correct, because the profits generated from gambling is high in a minute, so the government capitalized on this so much that's why they hardly never ban gambling businesses out there.

Most governmental bodies are actually the owners of most gambling platforms for where they generate more money back to themselves and government.

[qwertyup23]

Some may consider this a controversial question: Should governments be making profit from the gambling industry and use said profit for public services?

<..snip..>
It will only be hypocritical if they are restricting gambling but wanting to get benefits from it.

Like what I previously mentioned in the past, gambling is responsible for bringing huge amounts of revenue in the country. In the Philippines alone, this industry brought almost billions of dollars in revenue that helped the government in funding their projects for various purposes for the citizens of such country.

Now the question lies on the morality and ethical side of gambling given that tons of advertisements are scattered across billboards exposing it to the younger generation. There has to be some balancing state interest in protecting the welfare of the children and keeping up with the revenue for funding government projects.

In my country, casino is heavily taxed but the main issue is the government using the funds just to be corrupted by the government officials. Small percentage will go to the project while the rest to the pocket of corrupt politicians.

We have a national lottery that is dedicated for charity works but now with current administration almost everyday winning the jackpot lottery that result to many speculation that they are cheating the results just to claim the price.

This is the exactly the challenge for the government in addressing corruption. Instead of these projects being catered primarily to the citizens, lots of government officials tend to pocket these amounts to the prejudice of the country.

[mcdouglasx]

They obtain it through taxes, but indirectly. It doesn't look good for a government to directly manage its own casinos because, regardless of the reason, that lends itself to cheating, corruption, and money laundering, and that's something governments avoid at all costs. What you're saying might seem logical, but this kind of thing can't be managed by the nation; it would be a monopoly, and you'd practically be heading toward a dictatorship soon.

[Dr.Osh]

My answer is yes and that is a good step rather than people playing gambling secretly which is clearly detrimental to the country, the country does not receive taxes because it prohibits it and people's purchasing power will decrease because of gambling, it's just that our country does not open its eyes to this situation.

[adultcrypto]

Some may consider this a controversial question: Should governments be making profit from the gambling industry and use said profit for public services?

Governments all over the world need money to function effectively and it does not matter the source of money, they will take it. That is why German government, US government and many other governments used seize Bitcoin and converted them to their money. That is to show that the source of funds is immaterial to the government. Therefore, revenue from gambling can be put to good use by government for the betterment of the citizens.

[Hispo]

Some may consider this a controversial question: Should governments be making profit from the gambling industry and use said profit for public services?

Governments should tax casinos fairly, as they tax any other business, after all, casinos are businesses. Right?
Though, I am against governments taxing people who win money from gambling, since that income comes from completely from random numbers and without any predictable pattern or planning, so it would not make sense to tax it.
Casinos have the house edge so they always get money, on the other hand, governments need to leave alone lucky winners of lotteries, sport betting and casino games. In the end, those lucky winners will be taxes through their expenses, but allow them to keep all their winnings.

[Cryptomultiplier]

Some may consider this a controversial question: Should governments be making profit from the gambling industry and use said profit for public services?

<..snip..>
It will only be hypocritical if they are restricting gambling but wanting to get benefits from it.

Like what I previously mentioned in the past, gambling is responsible for bringing huge amounts of revenue in the country. In the Philippines alone, this industry brought almost billions of dollars in revenue that helped the government in funding their projects for various purposes for the citizens of such country.

Now the question lies on the morality and ethical side of gambling given that tons of advertisements are scattered across billboards exposing it to the younger generation. There has to be some balancing state interest in protecting the welfare of the children and keeping up with the revenue for funding government projects.

In my country, casino is heavily taxed but the main issue is the government using the funds just to be corrupted by the government officials. Small percentage will go to the project while the rest to the pocket of corrupt politicians.

We have a national lottery that is dedicated for charity works but now with current administration almost everyday winning the jackpot lottery that result to many speculation that they are cheating the results just to claim the price.

This is the exactly the challenge for the government in addressing corruption. Instead of these projects being catered primarily to the citizens, lots of government officials tend to pocket these amounts to the prejudice of the country.

As it is right now, the government of any country cannot outrightly place a permanent ban on gambling activities instead they choose to tax it heavily to discourage some gamblers and there's also age restrictions for the underaged gamblers who want to explore and feel they can win big.

Parents should do so much more to educate their children on the ills of gambling. They shouldn't just stop there, they can decide to teach them how it is done responsibly so that when they get exposed to it in the real world, they would have some form of self control and understand that it is not a get rich quick scheme.

I buy the idea of government using taxes or profits from gambling to sponsor rural and urban projects and that's one reason why gambling cannot be totally eradicated but regulated to suit both the gambler and the government.

[criptoevangelista]

The government wants to profit from everything, and gambling is no different. Everything people do to prosper, in this case, casino owners, inevitably ends up under the hand of a risk-free partner: the government. So, given the way society is, it’s completely normal for the state to want its share of the profits from everything.

[ashmodeus]

There's nothing wrong with governments profiting from gambling if it's legal in their countries. Essentially, that's what they should do, just as they profit from other industries. Therefore, the OP question isn't controversial. After all, it's only right that any resources generated be used for the public good.

[Ultegra134]

Governments should tax casinos fairly, as they tax any other business, after all, casinos are businesses. Right?
Though, I am against governments taxing people who win money from gambling, since that income comes from completely from random numbers and without any predictable pattern or planning, so it would not make sense to tax it.
Casinos have the house edge so they always get money, on the other hand, governments need to leave alone lucky winners of lotteries, sport betting and casino games. In the end, those lucky winners will be taxes through their expenses, but allow them to keep all their winnings.

Well, as much as I don't like them taxing us for our winnings, it's an income, it doesn't matter how it came all established and regulated casinos in Greece (not cryptocurrency ones), automatically deduct an amount of your winnings over 100€.  This is why a large number of people (including myself), resort to cryptocurrency casinos, which are often blocked on most EU countries,  to avoid losing portion of your earnings. However, it isn't unreasonable. Governments want to make money, and that's great if they're putting it into good use for the communities.