Why Governments Banning Gambling Is Never About the Gambling

[Filicius]

Still when you compare it to when there was no ban on gambling you will find that black market users are less then when everyone was doing it legally and this is because not everyone can find a way to cut around the system, not everyone is bold enough so banning gambling might not put a complete stop on gambling but it will definitely reduce it and that alone is already a win for some of these governments.

Yeah that’s right. Although sometimes, gambling bans are not really aimed at completely eradicating gambling, but rather to only reduce the overall participation by using that means to discourage casual gamblers from being too actively engaged and involved in gambling.

Although sometimes, how effective these policies are solely dependent on how it affects the bettor and whether it is really deals with the underlying problem that it was meant to.

Although we tend to think that most people are capable of using a VPNs and simple solutions like that, I guess that you are right that many individuals would simply quit gambling if they have to face such difficulties. In that sense the pandemic helped reduce technology gap and many more people are able to gamble online that before, but it didn’t eliminate it, and it is not the same to gamble when you have everything in your favor as to do it if they put obstacles in your way.

[Somegory]

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?

OP do you have any proof about a casino that belongs to the government? Because there are certain things that the government can run by themselves, you can see what's happening with the government and predictions markets?

There are some boundaries to everything, I want you to know that, if a country is struggling with massive amounts of addicted gamblers it's on the people to call the government out, the solution isn't even banning but proper regulations.

Government banning gambling is about the people most of the time because in my country there is no gambling den or business that belongs to any government, maybe that's whats happening in your country?

[angrybirdy]

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?

one of my theories that have is that some governments may have financial interests in gambling businesses or industries related to gambling. in that case, they might be more likely to take down on any related activities they see as competitor that affects their own business. as we know, Gambling itself is not completely banned in many countries but instead, only certain types of gambling are not allowed because they operate without any licenses or they have fail to meet legal regulations which shows as illegal operation.
When it comes to illegal gambling operations, one of the main reasons why the governments take them down is that they are operating without the proper permits, failing to comply with regulations and not paying the required taxes && licensing fees which we all know that government strictly monitored any illegal businesses because they somehow has a kickback in all legal operations due to proper taxes payments of gambling business owners.

[Alex077]

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.

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

I think there’s definitely some truth to this, but I wouldn’t say governments ban gambling only because they want to protect their own monopoly and make the money themselves.
You do sometimes get a pretty strange situation where private casinos are banned or heavily restricted, while government-run lotteries are perfectly legal. From the gamblers point of view, it does seem a bit hypocritical when private gambling is banned but government-run lotteries are allowed to make billions.

But there’s another side to it as well. Governments usually justify gambling restrictions by talking about addiction, fraud, money laundering, and other social problems.

[bakasabo]

I find answer very simple. Gambling industry pay a taxes, as well as make some shady payment to government representatives. All is about money. As soon as gambling industry start to bring little to budget, little to government representative pockets, they start to act against it by adjusting laws, banning casinos, asking for licenses and etc. "No one ever kills a poultry that lays eggs." It can only restrict or limit amount of eggs lays because there is something else that brings more "food".

[tiCeR]

the best approach in all places/countries/land would always have been the same approach = legalize it - making it easy and accessible to everyone.
this is the only solution to avoid any grey area, any further issue, and in the same way this is also beneficial for the governement since can have an easy and secure way to earning from taxes.
most of these blocks look to me just a silly apology before new regulations arrival.

I agree that this is probably the way to prevent large grey areas or large illegal markets from emerging, but the truth is as soon as the tax > 0, there is a big enough incentive for some people to still use illegal offerings. In countries where gambling is regulated, you sometimes have casinos immediately deducting the tax either from the total betting amount or from the payout of winnings. Which I think makes the most sense because enforcing taxes on the player level individually is a huge amount of work and probably not worth it in too many cases.

Banning is de facto pushing everyone to use illegal offerings and some will refrain from gambling because the penalties might be too high. I can imagine that China is not very prissy with illegal gamblers, but then I have to think back when they tried to ban crypto and the country still had considerable trading amounts and hidden mining operations.

[laspol65]

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.

Still when you compare it to when there was no ban on gambling you will find that black market users are less then when everyone was doing it legally and this is because not everyone can find a way to cut around the system, not everyone is bold enough so banning gambling might not put a complete stop on gambling but it will definitely reduce it and that alone is already a win for some of these governments.

The government basically wants to bring control over gambling among the people of its country which is why it is forced to ban gambling. Those who are addicted to gambling and gamble through VPN connections are basically facing losses but they cannot blame the government of their country because the government has banned gambling.
However, in most cases, when the amount of gambling becomes more prevalent among the people, the government immediately takes this step, but this is their strategy to reduce the level. Because when gamblers gamble excessively, if gambling is banned, they will not be able to participate in excessive gambling. So here the government is able to use the strategy of banning gambling and is successful.

[Die_empty]

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

In this case, it's not the government's fault. Citizens are bypassing restrictions, and the government is not making profits from these illegal gambling platforms. I keep wondering if there are only Muslims in Indonesia. I read that about 12.8% to 13% of the country's 275 million total population are not Muslims. So why is the government making laws based on Islamic beliefs? Some people are just self-centered and make laws without considering others.

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

The pinball/pachinko industry is not owned by the Japanese government. They are run by independent companies and pay tax to the government. The state is in charge of lotteries, horse racing, bicycle racing, and boat racing.

Most countries I have seen restrict gambling because of addiction and underage gambling.

[davis196]

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?

It's not about the gambling. It's about the government trying to maximize the amount of tax revenue from gambling, while trying to minimize the quantity of gambling addicts. Most governments are failing at both tasks. Forms of gambling such as lotteries and sports betting are pretty much allowed and tolerated by most countries. Traditional casino gambling(poker, blackjack, roulette, slots, etc.) has been perceived as toxic and more addictive, which leads to many countries around the world banning casinos and having stricter regulations over offline and online casinos. I totally understand why a country would create state owned lotteries and sports betting platforms, but in reality, most state owned lotteries and sports betting platforms fail to bring substantial profits for the government.

[Betwrong]

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

Whats your take?

Yeah, maybe this is true in some cases, but governments also ban gambling because they have to do what most of their people want. Many people think that their lives will become better if gambling is banned, so they want it to be banned. Whether they are right or not is another question, but overall, I don't like this communist approach to governments, which implies that they are a necessary evil (with the exception of communist governments, of course). I personally think that gambling is just another form of entertainment and shouldn't be banned in any country.

[YellowSwap]

Japan and China still favours gambling, they love and hate it, which is the same response you will get from other countries in the world expect few that frown heavily on gambling.

Like. Korea for example, I don't know about the north but I am sure about the south Korea, they don't want gambling simply because it has ruined many families, it turned too ugly that some families ended up in debt that they will never be able to pay back.

The Indonesia country is a full Muslim country, they don't want gambling, there are some countries just like Indonesia, they don't want anything to do with gambling because it's against their religion.

[WhoYouCantKill]

Although we tend to think that most people are capable of using a VPNs and simple solutions like that, I guess that you are right that many individuals would simply quit gambling if they have to face such difficulties. In that sense the pandemic helped reduce technology gap and many more people are able to gamble online that before, but it didn’t eliminate it, and it is not the same to gamble when you have everything in your favor as to do it if they put obstacles in your way.

I get your point and I think you’re right. The thing there is that, not everyone is ready or has the luxury of going through all that trouble just because they wanna gamble, especially for those who spend very little time in gambling and do not place that much value in gambling. Even if it’s true that using VPNs can actually help bypass certain restrictions, it’s also worth noting that that most casual gamblers would see it as an unnecessary inconvenience, also given that some VPN would require you to pay a fee before you can be able to use their services efficiently. After considering all these, rather than looking for some kind of way around the hassle, they’ll simply just wanna stop.

[Out of mind]

A common business strategy used by the government to bring down competitors in every industry. It is either government-owned or a private company owned by a government representative.

Government shutdown crypto apps in my country for this same reason, and I am sure the reason why gambling is still functioning very well is as a result of the revenue it's generating for the government.

If the government are getting revenue from the gambling industries, I am sure they will not bring anyone down regardless of the competition because no matter how many casinos that is in existence, there will still be lot of gamblers patronizing them except the government are just being unnecessarily greedy because I do not think it's right to bring down other's business just to satisfy their own interest or make all the profit alone, if such mindset is applied generally there is going to be large numbers of business that will go down because every establishment has competition.

You are very right but I think what he can mean is that some people in the government are doing underground work by making money from gambling but not allow gambling in the country. This is very possible and it will stay between some government people and do as if there is nothing going on. But another thing is that some government people may like something that the government against and they have nothing they can do about it.

In most countries, gambling is officially banned, but sometimes there are allegations where government officials secretly steal a lot of money from gambling and commit corruption. Although it seems that the government officially bans gambling, secretly they are completely the opposite, that they earn money from gambling in various ways. However, although we think so, but we do not get any specific evidence, so we cannot say for sure. However, even though gambling is officially banned in most countries, it still does not have any effect, because people still enter into gambling at any stage.

[Cityhunter34]

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.

Yes, it's obvious that they have their reasons. But just like as you mentioned, that's the real truth about it, because it's not easy to stop their people permanently from gambling.

They will definitely look for a way to continue with their gambling activities, no matter how much effort the government puts in the long run. But it is absolutely not possible stop it completely at all, because it's not a new thing anymore.

[Karl_3000]

In most countries, gambling is officially banned, but sometimes there are allegations where government officials secretly steal a lot of money from gambling and commit corruption.

In most countries gambling is legal and not banned.

There are about 160 to 170 countries that accept gambling in the world in one way or the other, but about 25 to 35 countries do not make gambling legal.

Can you see the differences. More countries allow gambling.

[tech30338]

Gambling were stop because there were no permit meaning they are illegal and don't pay taxes, taxes runs the government and projects, so meaning they are bypassing the government and the people who are paying right taxes are being cheated.
Why the government are running lottery if you will see some of those money that are accumulated are being use for humanitarian or donation help to those in need like giving the money to the hospital, they are not just running gambling they are getting money to help the people, although some may not give all the money.

[xenomorfo]

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.

Yes, it's obvious that they have their reasons. But just like as you mentioned, that's the real truth about it, because it's not easy to stop their people permanently from gambling.

They will definitely look for a way to continue with their gambling activities, no matter how much effort the government puts in the long run. But it is absolutely not possible stop it completely at all, because it's not a new thing anymore.

The state is never right, it never does things to help people but only to help the lobbies of the friends it is best to help.
Get out of your head that tries to preserve people otherwise, for example in Italy, it would not be a state monopoly like tobacco.
This is my opinion.

[bisdak40]

That is true, it's the same in the Philippines. It's known that the POGOs(Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator) which targets foreigners as their customers are now banned. But look at our online gambling communities, there's a bunch of it that were launched and targets our countrymen which have a lot of irresponsible gamblers. It's true that it's with the monopolies and they have probably want to lessen the competition. And there's even a stock or a gambling company which is publicly listed in our Philippine stock exchange.

Here in our country the Philippines, it is hard to ban gambling as it is one of the source of revenues that help run some of the government agencies and it is protected by law so it there are talks of it being ban then we have to amend our existing laws, that is how complicated it is to ban gambling. The surge of online gambling has caused problems to our citizens especially those in the poverty line. Though we can't completely ban gambling but at least the government should do something to address the growing problem it has brought to our country.

I saw a post on socmed that a senator has passed a bill prohibiting celebrities from endorsing gambling platform which for me is one good move since people usually look up on celebrities and what they endorsed people usually buy.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

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?

Though your analysis may seems to have got some reasonable points, but I literally don't think promoting it's gambling style platform is the major reason why some of these countries ban gambling activities in their different geographical locations. Because though it's true that it government were to be the ones generating this profits from these gambling casinos, they never would have banned it completely, but in some other countries, I think an attempt to try to control the rate of gambling addictions is another reason why their government decided to ban gambling activities. And in some cases, the government is to be blamed, because sometimes the majority of people who gambles are jobless, and only if government was able to provide job and a secure source of income, most addicted gamblers wouldn't have.

[Zadicar]

Whats your take?

Well, its not a shocking news and something that isnt surprising on which government wouldnt really be wanting for them to missed out the revenue that they can possibly get and thats why they would be trying out to get rid of these things for them to be able to put theirs and thats nothing new. Same here in our country on which they do prohibit those foreign gambling but they are the ones who do made out those government casinos on which they are allowing it out and also made some words about gambling is bad since it can cause addiction specially into those casinos which arent that regulated or having that foreign operators on which it do really sucks. They dont really care about gambling addiction or what, they do just focus on how to make business and made money with it.