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[The Independent] The Gambling Freefall


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The Gambling Freefall

State Laws - Generous or Morally Corrupt?

 

GAMBLING. An industry that brought in nearly eighty billion dollars in the last year, a steadily increasing amount in the past ten years (Statista, 2019), yet, in forty-nine states, the regulations are tight, and the consequences for breaking them even stricter. In Utah and Hawai'i, gambling is illegal statewide (Findlaw, 2019). Meanwhile, in other states and territories, gambling is only allowed for charity purposes.

 

Regardless of how stringent or relaxed state laws surrounding gambling can be, laws and regulations are present in every single state, barring one. 

 

That state is San Andreas.

 

According to the non-profit; 'National Center for Responsible Gaming', eighty per cent of American adults gamble every year, with around one per cent of the adult population having a gambling problem. Gambling itself has very real and very present social costs, too, with many pathological gamblers choosing to gamble with their paychecks or family savings with twenty to thirty per cent of pathological gamblers declaring bankruptcy (Georgia State University, 2017). It's not just adults that have been affected, either. Lootboxes, often targeted towards children in games such as FIFA, Fortnite and Team Fortress 2 have been linked to problem gambling (BBC, 2018) leading to the Kingdom of Belgium banning the practice in 2019. 

 

Indeed, the only reference to gambling in state law at all is in regards to municipal gaming licenses, with the scope and limitations of such being extremely liberal, even within the cities' own charter, with the requirements for the gaming license being no more than a simple sentence long, with absolutely no other requirements, city laws or even state laws to regulate the industry. The city of Los Santos requires a premises to have a Gaming License if;

Quote

Any establishment that permits the use of, promotion of and operation of betting, including the use of, promotion of and operation of gambling games including but not limited to raffling, blackjack, poker, roulette, lottery and bingo shall be required to hold a gaming license.

 

However, the City of Los Santos has published no guidance on the scope of the Gaming License, nor is there any additional literature provided by the City Government on what would prevent a Gaming License from being issued, theoretically, a business could market their gambling services to minors, allow minors into casinos and allow them to game, have fixed odds as infinitely low as they wish on slot machines and have absolutely no mechanisms in place to stop or even combat problem gambling or gambling addiction. We reached out to the Mayors Office but have yet failed to receive a response. 

 

While the current state of affairs may be a libertarian utopia, the reality is much more daunting. Gambling has sufficient backing to support its addictive nature, and with districts, municipals, states and countries throughout the world using real-world science and psychology to format policy in this regard, Los Santos, and the state of San Andreas itself has taken a Laissez-Faire approach to their own policy, and, as such, are prepared to keep open the can of worms that gambling addiction can cause, and to allow the state to take the burden of the social costs of that policy.

 

   The Los Santos Independent is a financially-independent news outlet operating in the wider Los Santos Metropolitan Area.

 

Now That You're Here....

 

The Los Santos Independent doesn't run advertisements in order to keep our reporting fair and factual, away from corporate influence.  We welcome any donations that you would like to offer us to help pay our bills. If you'd like to make a donation, please contact [email protected]. Any help is duly appreciated.

 

 

Edited by HaveADream
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