Lessons From History Being Ignored
South African online casino fans are most likely already tired of the on, then off, then on again shenanigans going on with the decision to go ahead and legalize online gambling or put an end to it all together with a complete ban.
If you recall, the latest salvo in what is beginning to look like an all out war was fired by South Africa’s government. Just a short time ago, the government let it be known they were actually proposing a comprehensive ban. According to various media covering this story, the proposal is being looked at with great interest by the National Gambling Policy Council as well as the Department of Trade and Industry.
Yet if you remember, on the other side of the aisle, the Democratic Alliance is making a strong case for regulation instead of an outright ban. The Democratic Alliance reminds everyone that the evidence is overwhelming that a significant proportion of the population supports online gambling and online casinos.
That’s the setup, now the question is what gigantic lesson is being overlooked with all of this bickering back and forth? Namely this: it doesn’t work. It never has and most likely never will. Understand this is not just a made to order sound bite. No, this reminder comes from none other than the Economist.
Yes, that Economist. The venerable institution that was first established way back in 1843. The same weekly magazine that sends out almost 2Million copies each and every week.
What is the lesson that the team at Economist wants everyone to remember? A previously published article in the Economist points to the dismal experience the United States went through with the attempt to ban alcohol through Prohibition. The result was chaos and the rise of large scale organized crime. Not only that, Prohibition had little to no effect on the desire of the American consumer of the time to obtain alcohol. Sadly, another dark side to the American Prohibition Era is the untold number of deaths from drinking dangerous home brewed whiskey, the violence and more deaths from gang warfare and much more.
In other words, the lesson the Economist is encouraging legislators to keep in mind is that bans and prohibitions just don’t work. Additionally, oftentimes these bans have more negative side effects than the original legislators could ever imagine.
The lesson is clear and it’s somewhat surprising that a progressive modern nation such as South Africa would even consider going down this road. Time will tell how this saga plays out.