CASE STUDY # 6: MORE THAN JUST CASINOS

“Who decides what we ought to do?” It is evident that both law and morality serve to channel our behavior. To permit something legally is not the same as acknowledging it as morally permissible. Legal toleration is not the same as moral approbation. A significant and fundamental distinction needs to be made concerning the relationship between legality and morality.

Anchoring its mission as a partner of the Philippine government in nation-building, PAGCOR, indeed is a state-owned gaming firm that help build the lives of the country’s future generation – the Filipino youth. It is also true that through this: thousands of classrooms for public schools were constructed; it helps in the development of Pinoy talents to be able to compete to international competitions and does feeding programs to provide nutritional needs of malnourished kids, and many others. Apart from projects for the youth, these institutions also engage in helping calamity victims through its disaster relief operations.

True, PAGCOR, charity sweepstakes and lotteries and all forms of gambling that have been legalized throughout the Philippines are owned and managed by the government and they all exist because of the government’s permission. It is the state that license and regulates casinos and the same state that maintain a monopoly on lotteries. And operating a private and unlicensed gambling is simply illegal.

Just because something is immoral doesn’t mean it’s unethical. And just because something is unethical doesn’t mean it’s illegal. But, there are consequences to each. Sometimes the consequences of an immoral action can be far worse than those of an illegal action. Sometimes an unethical action can lead to professional ruin, but leave your personal life unscathed.

Gambling for me is not really illegal but it could be considered as psychologically addictive, that it leads to financial ruin, that it leads to compulsive gambling, that it harms families, that it leads to criminal activities to support the habit, and that it increases crime in areas where gambling venues are located.

Religious people add that gambling is immoral, that it is a vice, or that it is a sin. Economists tells us how great the odds are against winning the lottery and that gambling is a type of regressive tax that hurts low-income people. Every time someone wins a substantial lottery jackpot, there is news about how bad it is to win such a large sum of money.

Those things may be true but none of them can legitimately be said to be a reason for gambling to be illegal. If it is illegal, why would the government allow it? Why would the government own PAGCOR? There are 29 cities with gambling facilities in the Philippines which have 61 legal gambling facilities in total. Manila has 10 gambling facilities, 261 table games, 2642 gaming, slot and video poker machines. The largest casino in the entire country is Manila Bay Resorts with 500 table games, 3000 gaming and video poker machines.

If gambling should be proscribed by government because it is harmful, ruinous, crime-fostering or immoral, the government should outlaw all forms of gambling and certainly not be running lotteries. In a genuinely free society, people have the freedom to make any bet they choose on; may it be horse race, casino, lotteries, poker and other gambling activity.

But that does not mean that gambling is good or that it has no negative consequences. There is a distinction between favoring a thing and favoring the legalization. It depends on the person to disdain some or all forms of gambling because it raises financial crisis and yet full support the legalization of such because at some point, it can help a lot of people.

Gambling industry can also provide people with jobs thus decreasing the unemployment rate in the republic or it can raise the revenue of the nation because it generates funds to aid the government in its role to continuously and consistently provide customer needs and satisfaction through its responsive presence.

The real issue is freedom, not preference. There should be no federal or state laws prohibiting any voluntary activity of consenting adults. Although gambling is under the title Crimes against Moral, the law on gambling does not take morality into consideration. It does not punish gambling per se but those gambling games which are not covered by a franchise or permit from the government. Again, the low on gambling exemplifies the adage that what is legal is not necessarily moral.