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Gambling Should Be Prohibited

The main difference between legal and illegal gambling is that legal gambling is monitored by government inspections agencies. But more people gamble because it is legal, and although the government collects taxes on jackpots, Indian casinos and lotteries, the system is highly subject to fraud.

Gambling online is illegal (federally), but this doesn’t stop people from doing it. And even though the Organized Crime Section of the Department of Justice found that “the rate of illegal gambling in those states which have some legalized form of gambling was three times as high as those states where there was not a legalized form of gambling,” we still believe that gambling is a drain to society. Here are our Top 5 reasons why.

Reasons why gambling should be illegal

Whatever the means, gambling should be banned outright. There are so many reasons why you want this to be banned. Look, there are already some states and countries that have deemed it illegal for people to gamble, but not legalizing this is not actually quite effective. Some argue that increased crime is a result of people losing too much money, but others feel that the large amounts of cash associated with gambling lead to an increase in illegal activity. In order to successfully legalize gambling, officials should consider an increased law enforcement presence. Gambling should be banned, or at least very tightly controlled. I believe gambling is a fun social activity that should not be prohibited or policed by the federal government. It should be an individual’s right to choose if they gamble or not based on their own personal beliefs and view point. The history of gambling can be traced back as far back as ancient times. Dice have been recovered in Egyptian tombs.

1. Gambling is subject to fraud.

Legalized gambling, specifically Indian gaming, is the fastest growing industry in the world, and can have a corrupting influence on state government. The governments are addicted to the revenue received from Indian gaming and lotteries. Recently there have been numerous news reports of corruption and fraud in state lotteries.

2. Availability of gambling facilities increases risk of problem gambling.

Legalized gambling makes this activity available to too many people. Governments and casinos portray this as a harmless form of entertainment. Because of the availability of legalized gambling, it is more addictive and destructive than most other addictions.

Furthermore, most citizens would not gamble illegally. Legalized gambling, therefore, entices people to gamble, who normally would not gamble at all. In states with different numbers of games, participation rates increase steadily and sharply as the number of legal types of gambling increases. In fact, legalized gambling in various states has not been a competitor to, but rather has become a stimulator of illegal gambling.

The public is assured they have the potential to win a huge jackpot. All that is required is to drive to the casino or purchase a lottery ticket. Because of the availability of gambling, many gamblers become addicted and compulsive. Interested in how to quit gambling? Read more here.

3. Problem gambling costs society billions annually.

The social costs of gambling addictions will eventually impact careers, physical and mental health issues, bankruptcy, divorce, crimes, and treatment. The gamblers will eventually rely on welfare or unemployment benefits, impacting the government, and the costs could reach several billions of dollars per year.

4. Gambling exploits the poor.

Evidence shows that legalized gambling often hurts and even destroys, especially those who are poor and disadvantaged. If gambling were illegal, the gambling venues would not be able to promote their lotteries, casinos, or other forms of betting and exploit people who are most vulnerable.

5. Gambling sets a double standard for governments.

State lotteries are argueably an effective way to raise taxes. Legalized gambling is a disturbing governmental policy. Governments should promote desirable qualities in the citizens and not seduce them to gamble in state-sponsored vice. When this occurs, the government contributes to the corruption of society.

Legalized gambling is a bad social policy. At a time when independent organizations estimate that there are at least 12 million compulsive gamblers, it does not make a lot of sense to have the state promoting gambling. State sponsorship of gambling makes it harder, for the compulsive gambler to reform.

Compulsive gambling costs

In addition to the above reasons for making gambling illegals, are the economic costs that gamblers themselves incur. The average compulsive gambler has debts exceeding $80,000. Additionally, compulsive gamblers affect the lives of family, friends, and business associates. Some of the consequences of gambling include marital disharmony, divorce, child abuse, substance abuse, and suicide attempts. Other social costs surface because of family neglect, embezzlement, theft, and involvement in organized crime.

Crossing our fingers or wishing on a star will not guarantee a win. The only guarantee is, if a person is a compulsive gambler and continues to gamble, the end result is prison, insanity, or death. Whether gambling is legal or illegal, there will always be gamblers. Wanna bet?

Reference sources: Probe [dot] org
Marilyn Lancelot is a recovering alcoholic and compulsive gambler with twenty years of recovery. She has authored three books, Gripped by Gambling , Detour, and Switching Addictions. She also publishes a newsletter on-line, Women Helping Women for recovery from gambling. This newsletter has been published for more than 10 years and is read by women and men around the world.

For years, several government quarters have continued to debate on the legality of gambling. While the debate continued, people continued to gamble.

The attraction from the beautifully decorated neon lights, the excitement, and even the five start hotels where the gambling activities take place kept gamblers wanting more and more. Although to some it looks like pastime activities, to others it has been a destructive activity that has led to addiction.

Also, gambling has led to accumulation of debts for families. This notwithstanding, gambling has led to increase in crime rates. Finally, the manipulations present in these casinos are a negative factor on their own. Therefore, this paper intends to argue that gambling should not be legalized under any circumstance.

First, gambling leads to an addiction as strong as drugs. Although many people tend to believe that gambling is just a part time and that one could spend a day gambling without any harm, experience has proved otherwise. People have become addicted to gambling hence spending more time in gambling casinos than doing other constructive jobs. These people become so addicted to the extend that they look for any opportunity to enter a casino.

This is problematic because it leads to less working time and hence less productivity. Sadly, the reduced productivity comes hand in hand with increased expenditure as more money is pumped into the casino. Therefore, legalizing gambling creates devastated less productive individuals.

Second, gambling leads to accumulation of debts. As mentioned in the above paragraph, most gamblers spend time gambling which reduces there productivity while increasing their expenditure. Given the addiction, one would rather borrow from a friend to go and gamble than stay home when he has no money.

This borrowing leads to amassing of debts. Studies have shown that a seasoned and addicted gambler has an average debt of $ 80,000. With such great amounts of debts, it becomes difficult to take care of one’s family. Eventually, some of these families break up due to inability to carry out one’s obligations as a father or mother.

Gambling leads to increase in crimes. Compulsive gamblers look for every reason to gamble whether they have money or not. After too much accumulated debts from borrowing, a gambler might find it difficult to get money from friends. Given that he cannot control himself from gambling, he might opt to use other means of getting cash to spend in the casinos.

ProhibitedReasons why gambling should be prohibitedGambling should be illegal

This is how crimes begin to escalate in a given region. This is very true based on the fact that the odds of winning in a casino are as low as 1-54 million. This is as good as nonexistent.

It has also been proved that very few people can afford to lose in a casino. This larger group of people that cannot afford to lose is the one that opts to indulge in crime so that they can make some money to go back to the casino with the hope that they would have a chance of getting back their money.

Statistics from the Atlantic City of New Jersey pointed out that development of casinos in the region witnessed a 467% increase in crime within a short span of nine years.

Gambling also strains the government’s budget. As mentioned earlier, gambling is as addictive as any drug. Equally, a person can be salvaged from this destruction through rehabilitation.

The government hence loses a lot of money trying to rehabilitate the addicted gamblers. The strategies to increase security cost money. Therefore, the government is forced to spend a lot of money to mitigate the crime caused by gambling.

Furthermore, gambling leads to lowering reputation of the city in question as a result of the crimes associated. This means that tourists fear to come to the city fearing the likely consequences and for their safety. With this, the city loses a lot of money that would have been brought in by the tourist. Finally, gambling diverts money that could promote other business activities.

A great percentage of the City’s money goes straight to gamblers and owners of the casinos while other business people get pea nuts in return. A comparative analysis of the contribution of casinos and other businesses to the state’s economy shows that casino’s contribute pea nuts while demands more from the government. This means that casinos are a liability to the city or state in question.

In conclusion, it is necessary that policy makers make gambling illegal. This is as a result of the associated damages and negative contributions not only to the individuals but also to the state. For instance, gambling will lead to increased rates of crime as witnessed in Atlantic City of New Jersey.

Gambling will also lead to straining of government budget. The government is forced to spend a lot of money in controlling crime and rehabilitating addicted gamblers. Finally, gambling leads to addiction and debts hence devastation of the family institution. Given these arguments, I believe that gambling should not be legalized under any circumstance.

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Should Gambling Be Prohibited

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Gambling Should Be Prohibited

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IvyPanda. (2018) 'Gambling should be illegal'. 28 May.