Gambling Regulation

Many recreational activities present in modern society that stir controversy have either already been addressed by the state or are currently the focus for regulation by future laws. For example, regulatory legislation has been put in place for alcohol consumption already, while legislation regarding the legalization of marijuana use is currently in the works. An issue, however, is the lack of attention given to the debate on gambling. It is an activity that creates serious economic benefit and social costs for both individuals and government, but the state thus far has not enacted clear policy to address it. It is key then to explore what the ideal state policy should be concerning gambling. In this essay I will argue that the state should enforce regulatory policy on gambling to maintain …show more content…
The concept of gambling being immoral stems from religious views from traditional Methodist views and Islamic ideas that suggest gambling allows people to attain wealth without earning it through effort or merit. Based on these beliefs, gambling should not be permitted. In spite of this reasoning, the state, as Jonathan Wolff puts it, “should be neutral between competing conceptions of the good.” Just because a group objects to an action, the liberal state can not ban it because it must remain impartial on moral opinion. Furthermore, a different view argues that gambling can be considered immoral because odds are always against gamblers thus making the contest unfair. Again, an argument to this is that gambling is a personal choice. Not all people gamble with the goal to make a profit, some do it for the experience, others are attracted to the risk, still there are others who gamble to pass the time. The point is, that the supposed moral shortcomings of the act of gambling are not near enough to justify its exclusion in a free and liberal