Comment DECEMBER 2015
We spend a lot of time at G3 studying markets and delivering reports and analysis from all parts of the world. Gathering information for our latest report on Brazil I came across a report from research company Maplecroft that listed the countries around the world with the worst records on human
rights.The figures are part of an annual Human Rights Risk Atlas (HRRA) that makes sobering reading as it list 197 countries, ranking those with the worst rights records at the top of the list, and those with low human rights risk at the bottom.
What I found interesting is that if you look at the list wearing a gaming hat, the most stricking things is the number of countries that outlaw gaming to protect its citizens are the same countries that have the worst records on human rights.
Some of the countries that have recently been downgraded as ‘extreme risk’ coun- tries, Ukraine, Thailand and Turkey, are countries that have banned gaming only to send their citizens to neighbouring markets or to illegal gaming sites with no pro- tection within their own borders. There are obviously countries that ban gaming on religious grounds and those countries currently suffering conflict and upheaval that must be taken into account, but on the whole, the greater the level of gaming restriction - the higher the risk within that country of human rights abuses.
IF YOU’RE A COUNTRY AT THE TOP END OF THE HRRA LIST, IT’S GUARANTEED THAT YOU’RE ALSO STRICTLY OPPOSED TO GAMING.
While I wouldn’t suggest that gaming plays any part in reducing the risk of human rights abuses, I do think that allowing people the freedom to gamble is a recognition by a state that it trusts its citizens to exert their own control over their actions. Many times I’ve heard the argument of intensive regulation being part of a nanny-state, which feels like a somewhat cosy and benign term for the governments of countries appearing at the top of the HRRA list.
If you’re a country at the extreme top end of the HRRA list, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’re also strictly opposed to gaming. Race down to the very bottom of the list and you encounter the oppo- site spectrum of countries, those that allow all forms of gaming, especially across multi-channels, from Internet, land-based and mobile.
EDITORIAL Editor Lewis Pek
lewis@gamingpublishing.co.uk +44 (0) 1942 879 291
News Editor Phil Martin
phil@gamingpublishing.co.uk +44 (0)161 236 6669
Associate Editor (MALAGA) Karen Southall
karensouthall@gmail.com
Consultant John Carroll (BILLERBECK)
carroll@carrollconsulting.de
South America Correspondent James Marrison
jamesmarrison@gmail.com
Contributors David Addison Jeremy Thompson Hill Dr. Damir Böhm
0 4
ADVERTISING Commercial Director John Slattery Email:
john@gamingpublishing.co.uk +44 (0)7917 166471
Advertising Executive James Slattery Email:
james@gamingpublishing.co.uk +44 (0)7917 166471
Advertising Executive Alison Dronfield Email:
alison@gamingpublishing.co.uk +44 (0)1204 410771
PRODUCTION Senior Designer Gareth Irwin
Production Manager Paul Jolleys
Subscriptions Manager Jennifer Pek
Commercial Administrator John Pek
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68