When strait-laced Singapore overturns a 40-year ban on casinos it is plain to see that gambling has become a socially acceptable mainstream activity. This has much to do with successful promotions for lotteries, whether state or privately owned. The fact that a fortune can be won with a modest outlay for the benefit of charity hardly seems a gamble at all, and the concept has time and again proved a superb marketing tool. The first British colony in Virginia was founded on lottery proceeds, cannons for the American Revolution and the road opening the American west were funded by lotteries. When the UK’s National Lottery commenced in 1994 a previously anti-gambling middle class took to betting activity like ducks to water.

In the United States lotteries are also viewed through a different lens. Supposedly anti-gambling governors such as Jeb Bush in Florida apparently see no contradiction in the promotion of state lotteries. Of all gambling opportunities lotteries, and maybe to some extent bingo, are seen by most people as harmless fun. Casinos, in contrast, usually get the worst press and cause the most virulent opposition. However, now it seems to be the turn of online gambling, where listed operators yoyo between being an investment opportunity for institutions to the blackest of villains in the eyes of US authorities. Britain has chosen to regulate its online industry, which is an indication that it, too, is a socially acceptable pastime whatever the opinion of legislators across the Atlantic. A wide spectrum of gambling activity has become a legitimate entertainment choice.

The face of gambling is changing and the majority of people are neither adversely affected by it nor oppose having the choice to participate in the activity. The incidence of problem gambling in the future will doubtless rise statistically but this, in part, will be due to better education and information about help and treatment availability. It is perhaps too simplistic to say that greater gambling opportunity leads to more addicts. An addictive personality will become addicted to something, and losing money must be less harmful than losing health. Of course some gambling addictions lead to crime to feed the habit but, once again, it is the addiction and not gambling that is the cause. Treatment must go to the root of the disorder and not merely assist in stopping the gambling.

The old adage that life is a gamble has much to do with the human propensity for risk taking. Placing a wager is part of that risk taking instinct found in societies the world over throughout history. Many people will gamble for money whether the activity is regulated or not, socially acceptable or not. In the new climate of gambling as entertainment, promoted by successful lottery advertisements, many governments find regulation as both a highly profitable way of taxation and a better way of ensuring the welfare of their citizens. (E-07.24.06)

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