Why Governments Banning Gambling Is Never About the Gambling

[alegotardo]

Most govt don't ban gambling for moral reason. They do so mainly to stop competition in their monopolies. They don’t actually hate gambling, they just hate when they aren't the ones making money from it.

Japan Cash gambling is banned. But pinball/pachinko industry is making billions of dollar through three-store loophole.

China Destroys all private casino, while govt itself runs two huge state lottery. Welfare & Sports, that print billions every year.

Indonesia Despite the closure of government lottery under religious pressure, VPN and offshore casino have now created huge black market there.

Pattern is pretty clear, when govt ban gambling, they either own the business themselve or push ordinary people into illegal market.

Whats your take?

I do not agree with you.... I think the most governments do not want to eliminate gambling, they want to decide who is allowed to operate it.
It is wrong to say that their main motivation is protecting their monopolies... do not you think that they are also concerned about the health of their population, excessive debt, organized crime and money laundering? In some countries, even religious values are a major reason for prohibiting gambling.

My conclusion is that a total ban will never work when the demand for gambling is high, so... the governments will almost always allow one or another form of gambling that they believe they can regulate whith more effectively.... a government that tolerates state lotteries, for example, is likely to achieve better results than one that tries to ban gambling altogether.

So, if governments believe they can better control gambling through measures such as advertising restrictions, self-exclusion programs, age verification, and support for gambling addiction, then it makes sense for them expand to regulated gambling rather than prohibit it entirely.

I just do not agree with your view that they do this only " to stop competition in their monopolies".

[salad daging]

Indonesia Despite the closure of government lottery under religious pressure, VPN and offshore casino have now created huge black market there.

Last I read gambling was legal until 1993 and after that it was totally banned due to the insistence of various religious organizations including students.
Now the government still continues to hunt for gambling, the latest OJK update asks banks to block 35,000 accounts indicated by gambling, still it does not reduce the number of gambling, because the dealer himself has never been arrested.
The huge black market for gambling is indeed, several thousand sites have been blocked still growing a lot, I'm sure there are still many offices in our country that are still unknown to government officials.

[PostQuantumBTC]

Indonesia Despite the closure of government lottery under religious pressure, VPN and offshore casino have now created huge black market there.

Last I read gambling was legal until 1993 and after that it was totally banned due to the insistence of various religious organizations including students.
Now the government still continues to hunt for gambling, the latest OJK update asks banks to block 35,000 accounts indicated by gambling, still it does not reduce the number of gambling, because the dealer himself has never been arrested.
The huge black market for gambling is indeed, several thousand sites have been blocked still growing a lot, I'm sure there are still many offices in our country that are still unknown to government officials.

Government going for their citizens not to gamble is not good, they should let the citizens have freedom that they want. They can ban gambling, but they should not hunt down bank accounts or anyone so far they are not advertising gambling in the public.

Gambling is not common with cryptocurrencies these time, there are many people from the countries that gambling is banned that are using offshore gambling sites which will be harder to trace. I do not know how they are doing it by bypassing geolocation that the gambling site will not know.

[Japinat]

Obviously, the government is up for personal gains and interest. They don't want competitors, they want to exist solo without any barrier that could compromise their future profits. Gambling banning just to get rid of gambling addiction is just an act, an upfront, because in reality what they want to ban are those huge competitors in the market. They don't want tax alone, they want whole revenues that they can get if their business create no competition.

And one thing is clear, the government is not really up for the welfare of the people and save them from financial threats due to gambling, but they look forward more to establish the financial security and stability of their own bank accounts and continue to accumulate wealth and investments.

[Samlucky O]

Pattern is pretty clear, when govt ban gambling, they either own the business themselve or push ordinary people into illegal market.

Whats your take?

Well a government that is not biased will do everything possible to maintain justice, in the sense that weather it favour them or not they will  try as much as possible to do the necessary things that will avoid addiction or underage from gambling. What I am trying to say is that a government that pushes ordinary people into iligal market because they own the business are corrupt leaders in power. But if the leadership is free and fair they don't mind baning gambling if they see it's side effects on their citizens. You can't generalized all government to be like  those countries that use gambling for business and ban others or push them to iligal market.

[salad daging]

Government going for their citizens not to gamble is not good, they should let the citizens have freedom that they want. They can ban gambling, but they should not hunt down bank accounts or anyone so far they are not advertising gambling in the public.

Not so, every country has its own policy on gambling regulation, especially muslim countries that strictly prohibit this activity.
The government has thought about the impact on the people if they are addicted to gambling then this will be difficult to overcome again if it becomes acute.
Or other people say gambling can bring big taxes, not all countries rely on taxes from gambling, the government has abundant natural resources.

[Peanutswar]

Actually depends on the reason if the gambling gets alarming into a country probably they will prohibit to accept having a gambling operating into their country but if the country gets benefit with the gambling casino who has a license to operate into their country most of them giving a license and of course they are one of the biggest tax contributors that helps to a countries economic status. We cannot deny there are country only accept a casino internally to prevent the other casino operate to them and create a monopoly so still there are possible politics involve, which is often there is.

[Nothingtodo]

Most govt don't ban gambling for moral reason. They do so mainly to stop competition in their monopolies. They don’t actually hate gambling, they just hate when they aren't the ones making money from it.
Japan Cash gambling is banned. But pinball/pachinko industry is making billions of dollar through three-store loophole.

China Destroys all private casino, while govt itself runs two huge state lottery. Welfare & Sports, that print billions every year.

Indonesia Despite the closure of government lottery under religious pressure, VPN and offshore casino have now created huge black market there.

Pattern is pretty clear, when govt ban gambling, they either own the business themselve or push ordinary people into illegal market.

Whats your take?

In our country, even though the government has made strict laws to close down gambling establishments, they still sell some official gambling lotteries. Lotteries are sold on the occasion of Baisakhi, lottery on the initiative of Bangladesh Cancer Hospital, lottery related to youth development and sports organizations, etc. Lotteries are sold on behalf of the government. The government basically approves lotteries as a way to improve its own taxes or its own treasury. Moreover, in my country, some casinos and gambling establishments are also given gambling permits only to get high taxes. The government basically approves gambling establishments when its own taxes are improved and permits the sale of government lotteries.

[cocadalcan]

Whats your take?

Every government wants to increase its revenue. Physical casinos are frequented by the elite and a lot of liquid money flows here. Since there is scope for fraud in the private sector, the government has given importance to digital transactions. Casino owners do not show fairness to the government in the transaction of cash funds in casinos. It was reasonable to destroy those casinos, but in reality they are secretly running gambling activities.

[yhiaali3]

You may be somewhat right. It is true that governments prohibit gambling for reasons they claim are moral, because it harms society or causes the delinquency of minors, but on the other hand, they turn a blind eye to some types of gambling or some activities that harm society more than gambling.

For example, in my country here the government used to ban gambling but it adopted the national lottery every week and earned millions of dollars from it, and it deliberately turned a blind eye to some illegal activities because they generated profits for it in one way or another.

[boyptc]

Not at all times. There are specific countries that have banned gambling specifically only for their citizens and not for the tourists.

I don't think that there's a competition beyond that reason and it's a protection to their citizens so that they won't fall for addiction.

There are countries who are focusing more with gambling tourism and that's what they promote. So, it differs per situation of the gambling industry in a country where it has been imposed. But it won't be a big surprise if that's also another reason why they have to eliminate competition.

[Oasisman]

Indonesia Despite the closure of government lottery under religious pressure, VPN and offshore casino have now created huge black market there.

Pattern is pretty clear, when govt ban gambling, they either own the business themselve or push ordinary people into illegal market.

Whats your take?

I don't see it as a case for Indonesia. That country value morality and their religious practices, so banning gambling did not mean their government is pushing everyone to illegally gamble. There could be a lot of different way to gamble illegally if anyone wanted to.

IMO, any governments who ban gambling for their own personal agenda, I think that will become very obvious, and people/businessmen will start questioning it.
It could be a lot easier to just regulate it and collect taxes from them. With how fast the gambling industry is rising these days, they will get enough money from regulating them than actually running their own.

[Nrcewker]

I see this as a government publicity stunt. They know that gambling is widely viewed as morally wrong so they seek to gain public support by banning it. The government’s voter base generally consists of middle aged men. These voters may see such strict measures as an attempt to protect their children from gambling addiction, which could increase their trust in the government.

However many people believe the government is doing this primarily for publicity. In reality, the government earns significant revenue from gambling and lottery taxes. Some argue that it wants gambling to continue, but outside of regulated casinos, so that when people are caught gambling illegally the authorities can impose heavy penalties on them.

[As-Soon-As]

Indonesia Despite the closure of government lottery under religious pressure, VPN and offshore casino have now created huge black market there.

Indonesia is a Muslim country, so it is not surprising that Indonesia has banned gambling. Because Muslims are prohibited from gambling, but those who do gamble often break the rules and gamble using other networks or VPN. In this current situation, people should not blame the government and there may be various reasons why the government bans gambling.

Pattern is pretty clear, when govt ban gambling, they either own the business themselve or push ordinary people into illegal market.
Whats your take?

The country where gambling is banned can ban gambling considering the above reasons so that the people of that country do not suffer, China is a big country that also bans gambling.
 However, those who lose money by gambling in the black market should not blame anyone, gamblers are gambling in the black market of their own free will, it is their personal choice. There is nothing to blame the government for this.

[danherbias07]

Well, in this way, they have control over everything. Gambling profits do not go only to the rich and the elite. They go directly to taxes, which means more money for the government and for projects created for the people. There are corrupt government employees, but it's given to every country. It's really difficult to eliminate that. Still, if the money is going to the treasury, there will be receipts, which means those who try to rob it might answer to some difficult questions when they are caught.

IMO, it's better that way. Lessen the rich who can get richer, and let it go to taxes so that some would benefit from it.

[TedMosby]

Somewhat agree with you. But this is what I think about governments banning gambling.

IMO, there are two possible reasons why governments do that. Apart from wanting a monopoly because they also want a share of the cake, the other reason could be the huge amount of money in the gambling industry that involves local players. It could affect the country's economy since so much money flows overseas because most gambling companies are based in other countries.

There are many cases where people who are into gambling put their gambling activities above other priorities. Some people tend to spend money on gambling rather than on goods or services in their local communities. We all know that spending locally helps stimulate the local economy. But because the money flows overseas, it can affect the local economy. Maybe not instant, but for sure in the long term.

So again, IMO, legalizing gambling is sometimes not a bad option. It all depends on how the government manages the money.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Most govt don't ban gambling for moral reason. They do so mainly to stop competition in their monopolies. They don’t actually hate gambling, they just hate when they aren't the ones making money from it.

Japan Cash gambling is banned. But pinball/pachinko industry is making billions of dollar through three-store loophole.

China Destroys all private casino, while govt itself runs two huge state lottery. Welfare & Sports, that print billions every year.

Indonesia Despite the closure of government lottery under religious pressure, VPN and offshore casino have now created huge black market there.

Pattern is pretty clear, when govt ban gambling, they either own the business themselve or push ordinary people into illegal market.

Whats your take?

That's like the worst kept secret. Same (similar) with Germany. They ban all the casinos that don't obtain an official license from them. And an official license means they will earn money from every single bet somebody makes (5% on sports). They always talk so much about player protection but still run state run casinos, do the license stuff and so on. Sure, they also have some good actions, for example limit the max amount a player could bet/lose on slots in certain "game halls" and so on, also you have the self exclusion list that once you are on it you can't enter those state run casinos. Yet it's still obvious they want a cut from the industry.

[HelliumZ]

They have their own reasons but we can see that either way, their people still gamble no matter what. They will always find a way to gamble because this is innate to people. So when the government ban any type of gambling is just useless as their people will just do it in the black market.

The government has some domestic motives and interests behind stopping gambling. The government also has to consider the pros and cons of the people behind stopping gambling. If the government bans gambling to free the people of the country from the terrible effects of gambling, it can certainly be said that the government has banned gambling with the people. But even in countries where gambling is legal, gambling establishments are sometimes banned or sealed. The biggest reason in this case is that if a gambling establishment or casino evades government taxes, the government is forced to close that gambling establishment even though gambling is legal in that country.

[LastKiss]

Most govt don't ban gambling for moral reason. They do so mainly to stop competition in their monopolies. They don’t actually hate gambling, they just hate when they aren't the ones making money from it.
~snip~
Whats your take?

It's all about greed, the government wants a share of the money before allowing the bookie to do business in the country. Whenever there's a lot of money involved, governments will do whatever they can to get a piece of it  and my country is one example.

It's actually easy to block gambling websites but the government only passes a law and doesn't really address the problem. There have even been cases where gamblers in my country were arrested after winning big from an online gambling platform, while the bookies behind the casino and the platform itself were left untouched.

[Tetu100]

Obviously, the government is up for personal gains and interest. They don't want competitors, they want to exist solo without any barrier that could compromise their future profits. Gambling banning just to get rid of gambling addiction is just an act, an upfront, because in reality what they want to ban are those huge competitors in the market. They don't want tax alone, they want whole revenues that they can get if their business create no competition.

And one thing is clear, the government is not really up for the welfare of the people and save them from financial threats due to gambling, but they look forward more to establish the financial security and stability of their own bank accounts and continue to accumulate wealth and investments.

You're correct. They're not just after our own personal interest as a gambler, all they pretty want is to stand beyond every other platforms and gather all the money to themselves alone. However all they after is just only theirs and no other, but one thing is clear, no matter how they strived or try to frustrate people's business and get them off the picture,  a real business person (most of the gambling platforms) still has their possible way out in staying in business.