Albania should pass a new law to regulate gambling, either restricting it to locations outside major cities, having the state run casinos as public corporations or banning it altogether.
TIRANA TIMES EDITORIAL
Make no mistake about it: the flourishing of the gambling industry, whether legal, illegal or somewhere in between, is one of the ugliest features of the last few years in Albania.
Gambling in general is hazardous. It thrives on the desperation of people, it can cause harm to social cohesion and it can easily be exploited for illegal activities. As such, if it is to operate legally, as it is supposed to in Albania, it needs far tighter regulations and a new approach. If all fails, there should also be a national debate about banning gambling altogether.
This newspaper has long been a proponent for restricting gambling and banning it from major cities. So we welcome this week’s police operation to strongly implement the current laws on the books. A massive nationwide raid took place to inspect gambling establishments across Albania (read our article on page 2). What authorities found in their operation was not surprising.
Reports coming out say that nearly two-thirds of the gambling shops where not following the rules, and 472 establishments were closed – hundreds of gambling machines were confiscated. Authorities are now left to go hunting for the millions in lost revenue from fees of unregistered machines.
The action the new government took was a good start, but the effort should be ongoing. Though gambling is legal in Albania with the proper licenses, in its current form it has spread like a plague on Albanian society – there is a gambling shop on every corner it seems. That needs to end.
The new government says it is reviewing the current law and will likely change it. When doing so it should be careful not to leave any avenues for this modern plague to return to Albanian neighborhoods and homes.
It is clear that Albania must pass a new law to regulate gambling. If not banning it outright, it should be used to aid the society instead of harming it.
The number of gambling establishments should be severely limited and they should not be allowed anywhere near the major cities – a method used by advanced countries to help society resist the self-destructive and semi-criminal approach to gambling that appears to have flourished in Albanian neighborhoods. Having such establishments in remote locations would also help Albanian towns with no other industry get much needed employment and revenue.
In addition, the government should look at nationalizing the gambling industry as some advanced countries have done. Establishing a public corporation with a monopoly on gambling would allow for stricter implementation of the rules making tax evasion harder. It would help drive a part of the profit directly into the state budget that can be used for things like healthcare and education.
Albania should also have a debate about banning gambling altogether for a certain period. While the highly-regulated model is better than banning, which can drive gambling underground, if the government is unable to fully control the gambling industry – which has clearly been the case for Albania in the past few years – than an outright ban might be the solution until the state becomes strong enough to fully control it.
