All forms of gambling should be abolished
Gambling is playing for some stake. Gambling may be for fun or for gain but very often it is the latter. Gambling started from very ancient times and it has been a pastime of the rich as well as the poor. In modem times gambling has extended to many fields. For instance, speculation on a football game is nothing but gambling. Gambling at horse races is very common and millions of money change hands in a day’s race and for every one gain there may be thousands of losers. Gambling maniac has spoiled many a family and even kingdoms have been lost. A classical case is that of the Pandavas in the Mahabharatha who lost their share of the kingdom in gambling. Since gambling involves sudden profits, it leads to all sorts of malpractices. Hence gambling has been despised and no sensible man would indulge in it because just like liquor, it can ruin those who indulge in it.
However, people do indulge in it because more often than not a quick profit is expected. So when a man plays cards by way of gambling he thinks he can make some quick and easy money. In certain instances thousands of dollars change hands. Funfairs arc gambling places and many types of gambling arc there and people crowd there to make some quick money if they can. Horse racing is a licensed gambling. Tens of thousands of people go to the races and bet their money on this horse or the other. There are race addicts, who at the risk of losing all, go and bet. From ancient times the dice has been a form of gambling. There is gambling at established markets, for example, at the cotton market.
The attendant evils of gambling are many. A man loses all his money to others. He becomes a debtor and is ruined. The gambling maniac can lead to other evils like thefts, fraud and even in some cases murder. The family of a habitual gambler cannot be happy because they cannot say what would happen if the mania loses all his money. A gambler is not at all dependable and hence society always shuns him.
The question is, can gambling be abolished ? Since gambling nowadays is licensed, it has brought huge revenues for the governments as in the case of horse race, card clubs, fun-fairs and so on. Even raffles run by Governments and private bodies must be abolished on moral grounds because they involve gambling and fraud.
By abolishing gambling legally it cannot be wiped out completely. speculative tendencies in man leads to gambling. So, unless this tendency is removed gambling would be there and their removal is best achieved by moral and religious education. We will have to strengthen the will of our children through education and in doing so the home and the school and of course the Government have a moral duty.
