The casino industry has sparked a very productive public debate in the Philippines. As more and more casinos spring up around the island country, the discussion around them also increases.
What is more, people finally seem to understand the social and economic benefits that come with casinos, something that wasn’t the case in the past. This is especially true when the casinos that open are reputable gambling venues.
The benefits of legal online gambling
You don’t have to look far to see that the benefits from gambling at reliable establishments far outweigh the drawbacks. The online gambling industry in the Philippines is a perfect example of this.
Wagering at legal online casinos such as the ones listed in this summary by www.bestcasinosites.net comes with literally zero drawbacks. Players’ deposits are safe, games are fair, and the gambling experience is top-notch.
And that’s only from players’ viewpoint. If you look at the online casino sector from a social and economic standpoint, you will notice that the advantages of new casinos are even stronger.
This is because the online casino industry opens new jobs in the sector. More jobs mean more legal money in the economy. Similarly, when wagering at a legal online casino, crime is never an issue. The gambling site cannot defraud you of your money as it would have to answer to the national casino regulator if it does.
An even more important social benefit of legitimate casinos is that the risk for developing a gambling problem in a reputable online casino is non-existent these days.
In legitimate online casinos, there are deposit and betting limits that players can set. These restrict the size of deposits and bets players can make and completely root out problem-gambling behavior.
Social and economic pros and cons of casinos in the Philippines
As similar as they are, there are still quite a lot of differences between online and land based casinos in the Philippines. Let’s look at the most prominent socio-economic advantages and disadvantages of casinos in the country.
| Socio-economic advantages and disadvantages of casinos | |
| Pros | Cons |
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Pros
Increased tax revenue
The government in the Philippines is always looking for additional sources of tax revenue. However, these are often hard to come by.
An easy fix to this is to open more legal casinos. Legal casino tax revenue can increase the budget of a country by quite a lot. The more legal casinos there are the more tax money the government will see.
So the next time you hear a government official say how the Philippines need a tax reform or to tighten their belt, remind them that there is also a much simpler solution. They can encourage people to open more legal casinos.
Increased economic activity and more jobs
Opening legal casinos does not only increase tax revenue directly, but also indirectly. It does this by putting more money into the pockets of those who own and work in casinos. And the casino industry employs quite a lot of people.
Casinos also increase the cash flow in connected businesses that operate in or around them. This means that restaurants, bars, and dining areas also see a lot of windfall from legal gambling establishments.
All this money cannot stay in people’s pockets forever, of course, and has to go in the Philippine economy sooner or later. This means more money for small enterprises, individual business owners, and more money in tax revenue.
Reduces criminal activity
Casinos have gone a long way from the days when they were connected to the mob and were synonymous with criminal activity. These days, legal casinos are just like any other business and the people working there only want to earn a living for themselves and for their families.
What is more, when there are more legal casinos, the number of illegal ones decreases. As you can imagine, criminal activity is predominantly present in these illegal establishments. The less illegal casinos there are the less crime the Philippines will see.
More money for charity donations
You might be surprised to learn that the gambling industry has to give a portion of its revenue to charity, but that is indeed the case. Even when this is done on voluntary basis there is lots of discontent in the public if the gambling industry fails to meet the donation target.
Cons
The government cannot regulate all gambling venues
Land based regulators try hard to impose the law on all gambling establishments in the Philippines. However, that sometimes requires a lot of footwork and is not always practical.
Gambling venues with dubious credentials often spring up in remote parts of the Philippines that you will struggle to even get to. These are not legitimate casinos and often look exactly like you see them in films – lots of shady-looking people gambling illegally in dark and smoke-filled rooms.
Regulating these would require authorities to go to every village and close a gambling shop as a new one opens somewhere else. Obviously, this is not very practical and would cost the tax payer a lot of money.
Increase in problem gamblers
It is to be expected that once there are more casinos out there, there will also be more players who will visit them. And if there are more players that go into a casino, the higher the chances that some of them will be problem gamblers or will develop the problem later.
Experts are also suggesting an alternative view here. They say that it is obvious that there will be more problem gamblers in the first couple of years after a new casino opens. This is to be expected.
However, they also say that after that initial excitement surrounding the casino goes away, the number of problem gamblers decreases. This means that you can expect to see more people with a gambling problem frequent a casino in the first few years, but that number will likely decrease in the future.
