Dan Alexandru Ghiță about the new legislation in the gambling industry
Following the new legislative changes in the gambling industry, we spoke with Mr. Dan Alexandru Ghiță to find out his opinion.
“As a reaction to the new legislation in the gambling industry in Romania , I was called by many people, local and international operators and producers and at the same time by many experts from outside the country (which, by the way, could have been consulted for free if there was interest), many of them participating throughout their careers in the creation or improvement of legislation in countries with a very long history in gambling like USA, UK, Italy, including countries from Asia.
Everyone had the same opinion, which I also share: The form of the law is a disaster.
My thoughts are not against the idea of changing the legislation, I don’t want to be misunderstood, I have always supported the improvement of the legislation and encouraged the dialogue with all parties involved and in Romania all the steakholders from the industry were always open to discuss and come with solutions, but the modifications brought now are disastrous and unfortunately it shows a total misunderstanding of the phenomenon.
What is for sure is that banning it is not an option. Also other countries tried that, but it didn’t work because it turns out that trying to legislate away human nature and human problems doesn’t work. When you ban things, you create a vacuum and someone will always move to fill it, through the black market or specula. This always happens at a much greater cost to society !!!
Instead of banning things , you manage by exception.
If someone has an alcohol addiction, you don’t ban alcohol for everyone, you tilt your attention to the person who has the problem, you help. Some people can control their habit, some can’t.
There are definitely in the society some people who have an addictive nature (addictions of any kind, I’m not talking specific to a certain industry or product , as the general rule is valid) so you implement policies that work to protect/exclude those folk and/or you make sure that they’re supported.
It’s better to manage than to ban. If you manage, you still retain control (and you can tax it and use those taxes to mitigate any damage) but if you ban it, you hand over the reins (and the profit) to your society’s underground.
From the population perspective, they will gamble whether it’s legal or not. As we saw during Prohibition, if they can’t do it legally, criminals will step in to fill the demand. It’s far better to make it legal and regulated, especially for the players safety.
Talking about gambling, all the countries with much more history and experience than Romania, have regulated the industry and provided a controlled and safe environment for people to gamble in.
These regulations can include measures such as age limits, betting limits, responsible gambling initiatives and many other.
There are definitely solutions for every situation, they just need to be consulted and of course adapted to each country depending on the culture, specificity, economic climate, etc.
Conclusion: the ban is definitely not the solution, it will only create huge problems !”
Dan Alexandru Ghiță about the new legislation in the gambling industry
Read also the news from HERE.
