GAMES PEOPLE PLAY

The issue of casinos came up at the President's breakfast meeting with journalists, and curiously there seemed to be more interest generated about casinos and the gambling hobby, that the journalists' own ethics code which of course some scribes would shy away from discussing for their own rather well known reasons.

On the subject of the journalists' ethics code the President was heard to say that Ministers and Members of Parliament can be voted out of power if their behaviour is condemnable or unethical, but journalists seem to 'go on forever.'

It is a fact that journalists are to some extent immune from prosecution and censure. They enjoy more lives than the cats' nine even when they are clearly in the wrong or have patently been maligning people and laying reputations to waste.

The media ethics subject needs to be revisited later, but as far as casinos are concerned, it is clear that the government has tried to regulate, and done so with some deliberation. No new casino licenses are being issued --- but it appears that the decidedly (a)moral dimension of the casino issue is somehow being blamed on the government.

Some journalists did remind the President at the editors' breakfast yesterday that casinos began proliferating in the 1980s or even before that -- and Joe Sim for instance was the big casino boss of that era, and the SLFP was nowhere in the seats of power at that time, and in fact the UPFA had not even been thought of.

So the casino issue, moral dimension and all, is as old as the hills but it is this government that has thought of injecting some regulation and some kind of method to the gambling madness, which certainly has a moral dimension -- even though it also has a business dimension with some looking at casinos as an adjunct of a pro-tourism commercial culture.

As Minster Basil Rajapaksa told assembled media people, the Samurdhi recipients for instance are known to fritter away their earnings due to a 'bookie' menace that has proliferated all over the island -- which calls for a regulation of this industry as well.

To have the existing casinos confined to a zone however is the most practical solution as far as the possible negative impact of the casino culture is concerned. The zones have already been demarcated, and that will be a double boon as those who want to gamble in the casinos will not have to go all over the countryside looking for these gambling dens -- they will merely have to get to the zone and have as many rolls of the dice as they want.

UNP governments never seemed to have any regulations with casinos and anything to do with the gambling business, but the flak seems to be coming the way of the succeeding regimes which are being blamed for the 'moral fallout.' This is of course pure politics, as the idea seems to be to find a fresh stick with which to beat the authorities.

It is much better that the media and all else that are concerned put their energies together to ensure that the new casino regulation mechanism via the zoning arrangement is a success. Zoning should be encouraged; particularly with no new licenses being granted, it means that gambling czars are not running amok.

As far as regulation goes, be it with regard to the liquor industry or the tobacco menace, it seems that the current dispensation has done a good job under difficult circumstances.

On the one hand, over-regulation has the effect of driving these industries underground. That's worse in terms of the so called moral dimension of the issue and moreover, some necessary evils can at least until they remain necessary evils, be turned into revenue sources. It's hard to maintain the fine balance between charging tax money and ensuring morals, but it seems the country is headed in this regard in the right direction.