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.
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