How about voters decides if they allow gambling to be legalize in their country?

[Julien_Olynpic]

I am from Venezuela, a country in which casinos are not so visible, but gambling certainly is, and because of it, I think people would vote in favor of allowing gambling and casinos to be legal here (as it is currently), because this is a republic in which religion does not command over civil activies like drinking alcohol, gambling or using certain drugs.

The liberty of people to do whatever they want with their money is supposed to be protected by the government, as long one is not hurting anyone in any way.

Also, it is interesting law makers in that state are actually giving the power to people to decide on gambling, it is usually discussed in local parliaments, so representatives can decide in behalf of voters. I like the idea of direct vote to solve these issues.

Indeed, we've forgotten that money belongs to people themselves, and they are free to decide how to spend it. Unless we're talking about crimes that are prosecuted by law, the logic of "what isn't explicitly or implicitly prohibited is permitted" should apply. We see a huge number of countries where gambling is legal. And no catastrophe has occurred there. Yes, addicts occasionally emerge, but they can appear anywhere there are underground gambling establishments.

[Ishicryptic]

In Nigeria, there a lot of religious and self righteous people who sees gambling as a sin and a thing that misleads people not to work hard to make money, they are prejudiced about gambling. The gambling community on the other hand in Nigeria, is increasing because of the economic situation in the country but if you compare those that gambles versus those that doesn't I believe that the population of those that doesn't is greater. With this theory in mind I believe that if there is vote to legalize gambling or not in the country more people will vote against it.

[Nahl]

I live in the country still not legalized gambling and the situation is mostly some of people are very religious although in fact majority people in my country is a gambler even some of rich man have identified as big gamblers and one of the biggest problem currently is many people have addicted to gamble but in society the people still considers gambling as a sin and it shouldn't be exist so, if there is a statement if my government want to legalized gamble certainly the citizen will be against my government decision and the reason is very classic because in my religion gambling is forbidden and voters results are very predictable because mostly people voted for not legalized gambling

[SFR10]

What will be the outcome in your country if your government decides to let its people decide if they want to legalize gambling in your country?

If I were to guess the outcome, I'd say most will probably vote against it... I'm currently residing in a country where the majority of people belong to the previous generations and that also means most of them probably have traditional views towards such things, so that's why I think it won't be legalized anytime soon.

[viljy]

I can't even imagine the result of such a vote. A very large part of society will vote against it. And a very large part will vote for it. Even now, when only bookmakers are allowed and there are five or six gambling zones (where gambling is allowed), the audience of gamblers and bettors is tens of millions. This is indirectly evidenced by statistics on several million addicted gamblers.

I remember back in the early 2000s, I came to the hospital and while I was sitting in the hallway waiting for a doctor's appointment, I witnessed a scene as a mother came to visit her son and I involuntarily overheard their conversation (loudly). It turns out that he went to the hospital, hiding from creditors. She asks him where he spent the loan. He replied that he had lost it. She asks him about another loan. He's also lost. And the third loan was also lost!

He took out loans for himself, another for his mother and another for his wife. And he lost all the credits in slot machines. So his mother was yelling at him. And he answered quietly and his eyes darted from side to side (for some reason I remember this). It was because of such cases that gambling was soon banned...

Therefore, the attitude towards gambling in society is very different. On the other hand, people like the guy from the memory above carry the problem of weak will within themselves, and gambling can be the trigger for this, not the cause.

[Pandu Geddon]

In my country, gambling is illegal. Although there are still many who gamble, whether it's offline gambling done individually or things like cockfighting, it can still be found in certain areas. 
Anyway, there are those who are pro-gambling, and most people indeed see gambling as something bad. 
I am not sure the government will do that, because for me, maybe the government is not yet ready to manage a business that, once legalized, might experience rapid growth.

[|MINER|]

In my personal point of view I think the voters are already have that options but that is indirectly like the choose the favorite candidate on the election and then the goes on the parliament, And they basically go to parliament to implement the demands of the people, and here if the people take the demand to them that gambling should be legalized, itwill be a matter for them to consider. But in this case, of course, it also depends on the social culture situation. And that's why if you always take the demand for gambling legal in all societies, it will not be valid.
And the option to vote on whether this system of gambling will be legal will primarily be decided by the people of that country or society.

[Sammye3]

What will be the outcome in your country if your government decides to let its people decide if they want to legalize gambling in your country? with casino operators and supporters, and those opposing, campaigning for legalization or banning. 

This thread is inspired by what happened in

Steuben County officials have approved a measure that will allow voters to decide this fall whether casino gambling should be permitted in the county, a move tied to Indiana’s newly created inland casino licensing process.

Steuben County Moves Casino Question to Voters

In my country,  gambling would be top 3 income generator for the citizens and about 80% are involved in one way or the other. If the government should give the citizens the right to decide whether gambling stays, the majority would definitely let gambling stay because it has liberated a lot and has consistently fed families but not neglecting its bad side too.

Even the rich gamble so I don’t see this as something that would affect the country negatively, it's just about managing your risk and practicing discipline to minimize losses.

[DrBeer]

What will be the outcome in your country if your government decides to let its people decide if they want to legalize gambling in your country? with casino operators and supporters, and those opposing, campaigning for legalization or banning. 

This thread is inspired by what happened in

Steuben County officials have approved a measure that will allow voters to decide this fall whether casino gambling should be permitted in the county, a move tied to Indiana’s newly created inland casino licensing process.

Steuben County Moves Casino Question to Voters

Yeah, I’m not against it, but!
I’ve always dreamed of voters taking responsibility for their choices! If a country manages to implement such a model, then voters can be given the real right to govern the country! For now, in most countries, the right to vote is just a way to create the appearance of free will. But in real life, you have to take responsibility for everything. The same goes for gambling:
on the one hand, it brings new taxes to the budget.
On the other hand, without proper regulation, it will lead to increased poverty, debt, and microloans for the poor, because they are unable to realistically assess the situation and view casinos as a “chance to solve all their problems with a single bet.”
For example, I would ban access to gambling venues for people with chronic debt (so they don’t increase it), where the total family income is below a certain level (so the family has money left, even if someone is a “gambling addict”), and so on. Yes, it doesn’t sound very democratic, but I, for one, have personally seen where such behavior leads, and how people ended up homeless because the husband thought he was sure to get lucky and win a fortune....

[Porfirii]

In my country what is not illegal is legal or non-legal and, therefore, not forbidden. In the case of gambling, it has been traditionally allowed, with some legal limits, therefore there is no need to vote to legalise it, and voting to outlaw it on the other hand would be an anachronism.

In general, in countries not under authoritarian governments' mandates, the state of gambling should be the one decided by the people. If they hold a vote and it turns out that it has to be legalised, it should be so for a simple democratic principle.

[Taskford]

I am from Venezuela, a country in which casinos are not so visible, but gambling certainly is, and because of it, I think people would vote in favor of allowing gambling and casinos to be legal here (as it is currently), because this is a republic in which religion does not command over civil activies like drinking alcohol, gambling or using certain drugs.

The liberty of people to do whatever they want with their money is supposed to be protected by the government, as long one is not hurting anyone in any way.

Also, it is interesting law makers in that state are actually giving the power to people to decide on gambling, it is usually discussed in local parliaments, so representatives can decide in behalf of voters. I like the idea of direct vote to solve these issues.

Indeed, we've forgotten that money belongs to people themselves, and they are free to decide how to spend it. Unless we're talking about crimes that are prosecuted by law, the logic of "what isn't explicitly or implicitly prohibited is permitted" should apply. We see a huge number of countries where gambling is legal. And no catastrophe has occurred there. Yes, addicts occasionally emerge, but they can appear anywhere there are underground gambling establishments.

You have a point since people should have their own freedom on where they like to use their money. There are countries legalize gambling and it didn't give any devastating issue because they handle this industry so well. Although some countries still doing good we cannot deny the fact that there's still risk. Because there are still people fall from addiction despite of good programs done by government.

But even those issue still exist what's good about regulation done by government is they protect many people to help them not easily fall from addiction, since their awareness made is somehow helpful especially for those people listening to their warnings and other precautionary measures.

[bakasabo]

If people were to decide to alloq gambling or not in their country then it would be banned 100%. Among 1000 citizens how many would gamble? 10-20? That is too little to make a decision. Those 980-990 would vote against crypto because of its reputation. Moreover, people rarely think about other people and protect only their own interests. Those who dont gamble would vote against even though they dont know what gambling is.

[fortunecrypto]

The government that relies on taxes and jobs provided by the gambling industry will not want its citizens to decide; it wants revenue, and the citizens want morality. You give the citizen the decision, and the result is in the citizen's favor, unless the government opposes gambling and wants confirmation from its citizens.

[Questat]

For me, its a good decision to leave it to the people whether they allow gambling to be legalized or ban it from their country. It's a sign that democracy works, and it values more the interest of the people, rather than the personal interests of the people sitting in the government.

However, the decision to legalized gambling comes with social and economic consequences, so people should also be responsible in casting their votes. And because voting creates public engagement, then it won't be surprising for us if casino operators make marketing efforts, rather than a comprehensive and unbiased assessment.

[rdluffy]

That’s a good question, and I’m not sure what the outcome of a direct vote here in Brazil would be
If you stop to think about it, it would be the best way to make these decisions democratically and in the true interest of the people
Way better than having only politicians decide, potentially influenced by lobbying and bribery

I suspect that the majority would vote to legalize and allow gambling here

[Satofan44]

What will be the outcome in your country if your government decides to let its people decide if they want to legalize gambling in your country? with casino operators and supporters, and those opposing, campaigning for legalization or banning. 

This thread is inspired by what happened in

Steuben County officials have approved a measure that will allow voters to decide this fall whether casino gambling should be permitted in the county, a move tied to Indiana’s newly created inland casino licensing process.

Steuben County Moves Casino Question to Voters

It is not an easy question as it may seem at first glance, even though many users will jump to write whatever bullshit about something like this. While principally I do believe that votes on individual legislation could or should be done by the voters since that would prevent the cases where politicians gather votes on certain promises and then ignore them afterwards, this may not necessarily be a good thing. It would basically create a rule by the stupid majority or stupid popularity, so entities could get proposals passed by simply investing enough money in gathering votes for example through advertising -- even if the proposal is ultimately bad. Should the average Joe, who is as stupid as fuck, decide on the next laws relating to technology and AI?  Gambling is a bit more easier through especially in the question that is being asked. While I do not expect most people do understand the full implications of the vote, I do expect them to understand what gambling is and what some of the risks related to that are. I find jurisdictions where it is completely illegal to be ruled by cavemen and stuck in the dark ages.

The people can vote on something like this, but not on every kind of thing.

[knowngunman]

What will be the outcome in your country if your government decides to let its people decide if they want to legalize gambling in your country? with casino operators and supporters, and those opposing, campaigning for legalization or banning.

First of all, gambling is not banned in my country even though it is frown against in many communities especially a religious dominated places. Assuming government decides to ban gambling today and then open a voting system for the citizens to choose between legalizing gambling or banning gambling, it'll be a total waste of resources conducting such election because people that'll stand in favour of legalizing gambling will triple people that will stand against it based on the current realities in the country.

This thread reminds me of my previous thread on this board about Nigerians attitudes to gambling and how much they spend on gambling daily. Nigerians spend $975m daily on online betting I believe you already know what I'm talking about looking at the stats in that thread and I believe the data keeps rising since then.

[Eternad]

That’s a good question, and I’m not sure what the outcome of a direct vote here in Brazil would be
If you stop to think about it, it would be the best way to make these decisions democratically and in the true interest of the people
Way better than having only politicians decide, potentially influenced by lobbying and bribery

I suspect that the majority would vote to legalize and allow gambling here

Depending on what is the logic or mindset of the people in your country. Here in Philippines, We have too much democracy that make the politicians can’t implement already a law to create better program because voters here is always communist illegal like illegal parking, vendor and so on.

Politicians are too scared to implement that will affect the community wrongdoings because they will be voted on the next election. The result is more corruption in the government while people is on total chaos minding their own business.

I like the government decide on this matter in our case assuming they have experts that will carefully analyze it compared to the majority that doesn’t have knowledge on what they truly voting for.

[KTChampions]

In my country what is not illegal is legal or non-legal and, therefore, not forbidden. In the case of gambling, it has been traditionally allowed, with some legal limits, therefore there is no need to vote to legalise it, and voting to outlaw it on the other hand would be an anachronism.

In general, in countries not under authoritarian governments' mandates, the state of gambling should be the one decided by the people. If they hold a vote and it turns out that it has to be legalised, it should be so for a simple democratic principle.

I completely agree with the first part. But the second isn't so simple. Even if there are people for whom gambling is harmful (they're either stupid or biologically incapable of self-control), then why can't other sane and normal people gamble because the majority has decided to "save" the defectives by banning gambling altogether? It seems to me that this is the case when democracy turns into ochlocracy or tyranny of the majority.

[rachael9385]

In my own country, I believe majority of the people will vote to legalize gambling. Am from a country where the cost of living is high, and unemployment is high too, and high paying jobs are very few, so the young people see gambling as something that can support them financially even though winning is not guaranteed all the time.
Many people who gamble, do so to earn some money. When majority of young people are facing financial difficulty, they gamble even with the little money they have at hand, and in this kind of situation, they will always vote to legalize gambling.

I think the same goes for my country as well, people would not even think twice to vote for gambling to be legalized because most people see gambling as a source of income for them and a lot of people gamble in their spare time to get entertained. In a nutshell, people in my country take gambling seriously and it's important to them.