eBusiness Weekly
Assessing the impact of gambling in countries on the continent is hard because the industry remains under-researched and heavily polarised. And it’s also difficult for countries to come up with policies that aren’t backed up by evidence. On top of this there’s a strong lobby defending the industry. And gambling policy affects employment, business, tourism, entertainment, social service delivery, regulation, cultural heritage, and religion.
Nevertheless, I would argue that, based on recent research there’s a strong case to be made to ban gambling because it’s rapidly evolving as a public health concern in sub-Saharan Africa, especially among young people. In my view Uganda is right to have taken action because of the industry’s negative social impact to this developing country.
