Truthfully speaking, I think that the government is involved with all this shady stuff. Who doesn't know how corrupt 3rd world governments can be? The underworld mafia has been surviving for so long thanks to political connections.
The government could have legalized gambling a long time back, but they didn't since it would be disadvantageous for them. No 3rd world political party is corruption free in my opinion.
If you are talking about organized crime then it is prevalent everywhere and not just in the third world countries. In US majority of the casino business were run my the mafia and that is the case around the world and they might have political connections and funding them to reach the office so that their business are protected and that might be the reason why gambling is not legalized in every state.
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This is exactly the point, the government will not achieve anything banning all these things when the world gets smaller with the advent of technology.
Take a look at Macau and it is under the Chinese government, they restrict the entire country but they have a place where anything goes including gambling and it can be said about Dubai and other similar places. I am not sure about Dubai having a gambling paradise but you get anything in Dubai from what i heard.
The government might be getting money from the casino moguls and hence they are restricting certain areas while legalizing and regulating others.