Sri Lanka, Aug. 19 -- By Sudaraka Ariyaratne
After weeks of discussion, the Committee on Public Finance approved the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) Bill last Wednesday. While the Bill faces its second reading in Parliament this Tuesday, its many deficiencies remain-helping create a regulator not worth its salt.
Gaming encompasses both gambling-games of pure chance like casinos and lotteries-and betting, which mixes chance with skill, such as horseracing. Despite moral arguments against gaming, a blanket ban is unlikely to be effective. Singapore learned this the hard way and legalised gaming under strict regulation in 2005.
A legal, well-regulated gaming industry mitigates the social ills of gambling more effectively than a blanket ...