Can Gamblers Go to Jail Under Bangladesh’s New Gambling Law?

[Chinesebaby]

In other countries, gamblers are often seen more as victims, especially if addiction is involved, but here it looks like they can also be treated as criminals.

What can you say about this?

Yes, it's quite unfortunate that gambling in Bangladesh is treated opposite unlike other countries, simply because it's government prohibits gambling and it is seen as an offense or a crime if you are found guilty of gambling. So that's why a jail term as punishment is been assigned to whoever is found as a victim to it. So the government is to be blamed in regards to this.

Is the law only concerned about online gambling or Casino's on the road, it's not clear to me while going through the link . Because from what am reading there is a total blocking of gambling in Bangledesh but, the truth is this is the twenty first century so some laws will be seen as archaic even though it may be like the government is trying to help her citizens from harm, and this law is something similar to it. Government can only put some regulatory measures to cut down addiction and abuse but a total band on gambling is not something that I don't buy into, it's the right of the citizens to do what ever that they like. If what they are doing is not against the law.

If you are privileged to live in a country where you have right to do whatever you want in this 21st century, it doesn't mean such right works in every country, because in some countries the government detects what you right you are to have and which right you are not to, just lie in the case of Bangladesh. And as a citizen you have no right to go against it, if not you will be charged to court for disobedience onto the laws of the land.

[Royal Cap]

What can you say about this?

As a Bangladeshi citizen, I don't think it will be possible to fully implement this law at the consumer level. Maybe action can be taken against big casino agents , but it will be very difficult to identify ordinary users. One reason for this is that now most online betting platforms are browser based. There is no need to install a separate app like before, So even if you check someone's phone, no app may be found. However it can be tracked through transactions, but how many people will the police arrest?

[CryptoBuds]

What can you say about this?

From my findings, yes. Anyone that is found gambling in Bangladesh may be imprisoned. That shows how strict the country is to anyone that is gambling.
Muslim is the most common religion in the country with about 91% of the population. So this should not be surprising at all.

But it is no longer limited to religious beliefs. Philippine government has imposed massive casino restrictions, and recently the Thai government has also been working against gambling. These countries are not Islamic states.

After reading the news, according to the Gambling Prevention Act, anyone directly or indirectly involved in gambling can face punishment. And the punishment for participating in online betting can be much harsher, including a maximum of seven years in prison and a hefty fine.

So yes, according to the language or structure of the law it is not only for gambling site operators. Rather they have also brought ordinary players or bettors under its purview. In fact no matter what the law says in reality these sections or rules are not enforced that strictly and regularly. Because in such poor country most of the time there is a huge difference between the law on paper and the actual implementation on the ground.

[Finestream]

If this is really true, then gambling addiction rate will eventually decline. Not only the operators will be threatened but also the gamblers themselves, which is a good thing since a lot of gamblers these days are not gambling responsibly, that even if the gambling platform will remind every gambler about responsible gambling before the game starts, still its left ignored by the gambler.

But with this new law in Bangladesh, the effect will definitely be seen in a shorter period. The only problem I can see is that if these gamblers would develop interest with gambling underground, because if they can't gamble with the legal casinos, then they might turn gambling with illegal underground casinos.

[leonair]

Gambling is illegal in most Muslim countries. As such, since Bangladesh is a Muslim country, it is natural for gambling to be illegal there. And in a country where gambling is illegal, of course, if someone does not follow the law and gambles openly, legal action can be taken against them.

Not only Bangladesh, gambling has been illegal in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait and Brunei. And here too, if someone gambles openly, legal action can be taken against them. However, despite gambling being illegal, people in all countries gamble because it is very easy to access online gambling and you can gamble while keeping yourself hidden.

[Mayor of ogba]

What can you say about this?

I'm not from Bangladesh, but from the directives that was given to the Bangladesh police in order to fish out anyone that's directly or indirectly involved in gambling, what I can say about this Bangladesh anti-gambling law is that our Bangladesh brothers and sisters that's in this forum should adhere to the law, because the Bangladesh government is really serious to restrain gamblers from gambling and anyone found gambling will be dealt with.

[Ronsbit]

What can you say about this?

As a Bangladeshi citizen, I don't think it will be possible to fully implement this law at the consumer level. Maybe action can be taken against big casino agents , but it will be very difficult to identify ordinary users. One reason for this is that now most online betting platforms are browser based. There is no need to install a separate app like before, So even if you check someone's phone, no app may be found. However it can be tracked through transactions, but how many people will the police arrest?

That's a fast one you know. Using browser based casinos would not be that easy to detect so I definitely there are some citizens who still gamble without the notice of anybody and I believe they would much prefer to gamble with crypto since bank transactions can easily reveal destination of payment which could expose them. With this pattern it would be very difficult to detect gamblers in your country and the police can not intrude into citizens privacy just because they heard when they are not sure.

[Charles-Tim]

But it is no longer limited to religious beliefs. Philippine government has imposed massive casino restrictions, and recently the Thai government has also been working against gambling. These countries are not Islamic states.

This is not about it not related to religion. If Philippines is the country we are discussing about on this thread, no one will post that it is not surprise, but the country talked about is Bangladesh which Muslims is the dominant religion. All Muslims dominant countries are hostile to gambling. Thailand is a Buddhist country. Expect such country to against gambling because only few among them like Sri Lanka support gambling. Nevertheless, the country we are discussing about is a Muslim country.

[bakasabo]

How this system is going to help anyone? To fight gambling addiction, they are going to put people in jail. As if in jail they will stop gambling. As if they are going to learn and experience only positive situations and skills. For long time already jail is no longer a correctional facility but a place turn criminals into more experienced criminals. If you lock person with criminals, I dont think they will teach him how to a better person, instead they will teach that person how to try to break laws better.

[AmaGold70]

My question is this, how would the government on Bangladesh be able to track gamblers who gamble online without going to the betting shop? In this country Bangladesh, the law might prohibit opening of gambling shop, but the method of tracking online gamblers is what I don't know. However, I think stoping gambling entirely would not be a good idea, but instead they they should focus on penalizing gamblers who are addicted, and gamble uncontrollably.
Gambling is not a crime in any way, and I believe their are other crime going on in Bangladesh that the government is supposed to give more attention to, and not to entirely ban gambling, instead the activities of gamblers should be regulated.

[Wakate]

How this system is going to help anyone? To fight gambling addiction, they are going to put people in jail. As if in jail they will stop gambling. As if they are going to learn and experience only positive situations and skills. For long time already jail is no longer a correctional facility but a place turn criminals into more experienced criminals. If you lock person with criminals, I dont think they will teach him how to a better person, instead they will teach that person how to try to break laws better.

The government is not trying at all and this kind of law can make gamblers to hind their gambling activities so that no one will know about it. Since we can gamble online and prevent suspicion by using a VPN, it will be hard for the government to know those people that are gambling to make money. There should be a simple law that can be respected by gamblers not something like this.

[AmoreJaz]

How this system is going to help anyone? To fight gambling addiction, they are going to put people in jail. As if in jail they will stop gambling. As if they are going to learn and experience only positive situations and skills. For long time already jail is no longer a correctional facility but a place turn criminals into more experienced criminals. If you lock person with criminals, I dont think they will teach him how to a better person, instead they will teach that person how to try to break laws better.

The government is not trying at all and this kind of law can make gamblers to hind their gambling activities so that no one will know about it. Since we can gamble online and prevent suspicion by using a VPN, it will be hard for the government to know those people that are gambling to make money. There should be a simple law that can be respected by gamblers not something like this.

Let us put it this way, gamblers will find a way how to get around such restriction. With VPN and other anonymous features that net can offer, there will be a way how to get by with this protocol. More than likely, the government knows about such work around but let us see how they will catch those gamblers red-handed.

And with the idea that they can be redeemed by having in prison, it may not be true for all. Some may change while in prison but others, won't. As they have very limited activities inside the facility, the tendency is to do some activities like gambling games. So how can it be a facility that will truly transform these gamblers into non-gamblers?

[Sandra_hakeem]

I was just browsing online and saw this gambling news, so I thought of sharing it here. It is about Bangladesh, and I’m sure there are some members here living in that country, so please share your experience or knowledge about this because my understanding is only based on the article I read.

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/js-passes-anti-gambling-law-4212651

“According to the law, anyone directly or indirectly involved in gambling will face up to two years’ imprisonment, a maximum fine of Tk 2,00,000, or both.”

So does that mean even if you are not an operator but only a gambler, you can still go to jail? In other countries, gamblers are often seen more as victims, especially if addiction is involved, but here it looks like they can also be treated as criminals.

What can you say about this?

Maybe I can add that it should be seen as an incriminating offence to think that this, by itself, is not a criminal offense. If gambling addiction is a major problem that has taken several regulations and planning to bring to a stop, why should they question the government for placing a penalty on whoever dares to gamble? If one indulges in something out of their own will, they're not the victims.

The Bangladesh community have been known to abuse gambling in a major scale and this is not going to stop them. They have been bypassing with VPNs for years.

[Nathrixxx]

I don't know how our government is thinking in an absurd manner like this, why will they have to jail someone only for gambling purposes when we have a lot of government officials who are looting public funds and are not being sentenced to jail, isn't this an issue of pervasive judgment?

There is nothing in gambling that warrants anyone found doing so being sentenced because this is purely an entertainment and not a criminal offence that should be seen as against the law.

[Fiatless]

I don't know how our government is thinking in an absurd manner like this, why will they have to jail someone only for gambling purposes when we have a lot of government officials who are looting public funds and are not being sentenced to jail, isn't this an issue of pervasive judgment?

There is nothing in gambling that warrants anyone found doing so being sentenced because this is purely an entertainment and not a criminal offence that should be seen as against the law.

It is such a terrible law that someone would have to go to jail for using his own money the way they want. This law is like cutting off the hand because of a wound in the finger. I think they would have adopted other good means to control addiction rather than banning gambling.

It's such a sad situation that those who should go to prison for looting the government treasury are those making laws for the country. Lawmakers in my country are the most corrupt. Yet they want to control the people through legislation.

[Ronsbit]

How this system is going to help anyone? To fight gambling addiction, they are going to put people in jail. As if in jail they will stop gambling. As if they are going to learn and experience only positive situations and skills. For long time already jail is no longer a correctional facility but a place turn criminals into more experienced criminals. If you lock person with criminals, I dont think they will teach him how to a better person, instead they will teach that person how to try to break laws better.

The government is not trying at all and this kind of law can make gamblers to hind their gambling activities so that no one will know about it. Since we can gamble online and prevent suspicion by using a VPN, it will be hard for the government to know those people that are gambling to make money. There should be a simple law that can be respected by gamblers not something like this.

When the government imposes stringent rules against an already existing system, and the people already have a great interest in it in their masses, they would definitely improvise to settle their need for that system because it has already become a part of them. So in the case of gambling, they would definitely look for another alternative means to bypass protocol, which involves them using vpn and that would be their next plan, and the government would never know that, and still the government would lose because they are not getting the revenues they ought to be generating from that source because they prohibited such exercise and activity in their jurisdiction.

[Findingnemo]

I don't know how our government is thinking in an absurd manner like this, why will they have to jail someone only for gambling purposes when we have a lot of government officials who are looting public funds and are not being sentenced to jail, isn't this an issue of pervasive judgment?

There is nothing in gambling that warrants anyone found doing so being sentenced because this is purely an entertainment and not a criminal offence that should be seen as against the law.

If your country passes a law that says having sex is crime then anyone who is doing it will be sentenced to jail as well, it is not fair but that is how the government works. AFAIK, there is a complete ban on that country for gambling so it's logical that anyone who is operating gambling will be facing the legal charges.

Politicians looting the taxpayers' money is irrelevant to this subject, they are but they also run the government so who got the ability to make them pay for their crimes?

[Makus]

According to the law that has been enforced in the country it is a crime to be involved in gambling in Bangladesh probably because gambling has caused some issues in the country. But the problem about this is that you cannot force humans to do something against their will, a lot of people love gambling and if they are deprived of gambling they might tend to start looking for a way to gamble and this can be very bad because it makes them do desperate things just to gamble. I don't think this is the right way to tackle gambling addiction.

[Hazink]

What can you say about this?

I'm not from Bangladesh, but from the directives that was given to the Bangladesh police in order to fish out anyone that's directly or indirectly involved in gambling, what I can say about this Bangladesh anti-gambling law is that our Bangladesh brothers and sisters that's in this forum should adhere to the law, because the Bangladesh government is really serious to restrain gamblers from gambling and anyone found gambling will be dealt with.

And we have Bangladeshi brothers here. We also talk about gambling. Maybe they are living in a different part of the country which is not directly affected by the law of the country. If not for this thread, I would have never knew such a law existed because I have a friend of them who talks about sports betting a lot in our discussion.

[bakasabo]

How this system is going to help anyone? To fight gambling addiction, they are going to put people in jail. As if in jail they will stop gambling. As if they are going to learn and experience only positive situations and skills. For long time already jail is no longer a correctional facility but a place turn criminals into more experienced criminals. If you lock person with criminals, I dont think they will teach him how to a better person, instead they will teach that person how to try to break laws better.

The government is not trying at all and this kind of law can make gamblers to hind their gambling activities so that no one will know about it. Since we can gamble online and prevent suspicion by using a VPN, it will be hard for the government to know those people that are gambling to make money. There should be a simple law that can be respected by gamblers not something like this.

Let us put it this way, gamblers will find a way how to get around such restriction. With VPN and other anonymous features that net can offer, there will be a way how to get by with this protocol. More than likely, the government knows about such work around but let us see how they will catch those gamblers red-handed.

And with the idea that they can be redeemed by having in prison, it may not be true for all. Some may change while in prison but others, won't. As they have very limited activities inside the facility, the tendency is to do some activities like gambling games. So how can it be a facility that will truly transform these gamblers into non-gamblers?

I strongly disbelieve that those who were put in jail for gambling and later get released, they will be released as better people. I think there is a high chance, that while being in prison those gamblers will only think how to revenge government and hack law system. Surrounding of criminals will change that gamblers state of mind and in the end gambler will be transformed into criminal-gambler.