Is Gambling Immoral?

In my culture, the somewhat money-orientated Chinese culture, gambling is nothing but daily entertainment, something to occupy yourselves with over a cup of tea or some rice wine with friends, a must-do during family get-togethers on Chinese New Year, or a fun activity you see going on under a tree in a random park. That is our version of gambling, or Majhong, as we call it.

However, in recent years, as the western world invaded Asia, more and more “casinos” or “pachinko slots” have started mushrooming all over the country, and you often hear news of people fighting, even resorting to murder, over conflicts of money lost over gambling. It brings us to think hard about the morality of gambling. Sure, it is the personal freedom of an individual to choose whether he or she wants to gamble or not, but should the government issue licenses to these gambling venues?

From my point of view, gambling is not immoral, as long as it does not become addictive. First of all, gambling venues are built on vast pieces of land that, normally, construction companies would never lay eyes on. It could bring large sums of tax to the government, which could use it for other purposes and construct useful facilities without having to ask citizens for more tax. Also, since these venues make a large amount of profit already, there would be less problems when it comes to asking them to pay tax, unlike lots of other businesses that often find loopholes to sneak out of tax paying. Second of all, if you come to think of it, gambling is just another type of entertainment, which keeps people minds off their work or stress for a while, and may actually reduce the number of people committing crimes on the streets because they have nothing else better to do. That is, as long as the gamblers don’t get hot in their heads and cause conflict. Thirdly, as we can clearly see from gambling paradises such as Las Vegas, or the aspiring Macau, these gambling venues can actually promote tourism