Should Gambling Be Highly Regulated?

Objection 1. Gambling is addictive to some individuals to the point where all sense of reality goes out of the window and as a consequence it ruins families, relationships, lives and cripples people's finances and potentially homes. Gambling should be treated the same as alcohol and cigarettes and removed from being advertised.
Objection 2. Governments have a responsibility to regulate things that are harmful to the members of their societies. Addictive substances are regulated because addiction causes great harm to those affected by addiction and their friends, families and communities. Those addicted to gambling can lose all of their money to this addiction and end up homeless, as well as driving their families and friends to bankruptcy as
Age should be the only restriction to gambling because it is a privilege that one should have when they become an adult. Adults are responsible for the choices they make and it is up to them to control how they gamble so they do not become addicted. If one does become addicted, it is their job to seek help to stop their addiction, not the government's. There are many legal things that people can become addicted to, such as caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco. All of these things are legal and can actually harm the user's body if they use it too much. Another reason gambling should not be made illegal is because if it were, people would not stop gambling, they would just start doing so illegally. An example of this is the attempt of the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. At first, the prohibition appeared to be working. Alcohol related arrests and hospitalisations seemed to have decreased but after a while, people who could afford it began smuggling liquor and drinking it in secret, which increased the organized crime rate. A prohibition on gambling would likely have a very similar effect. It is for these reasons that the issue of gambling should not be greatly restricted and is a form of freedom that one should have as an