In my opinion gambling should always be legal in a country. Having a nation wide ban on gambling is wrong as it will never remove gambling complete from society. The only thing that a ban is going to do is shifting it not hiding from the government. Private underground casinos will pop up and still satisfy the demand for gambling and sports betting. The government is missing out on taxes and also will not offer a legal framework for the citizens. It should be every persons choice to decide if he wants to engage in gambling or not. And as long as it's legal a gambler doesn't need to be afraid that he will scammed out of his winnings, he has the law on his side. In my country sports betting is a big market and is part of the culture over here, if politicans would try to ban it then there would be a public outcry. As for the metaverse I think it's the future and will be a big part for people watching sports, betting and engaging with each other while sitting on the couch at home. I would only be wearing a costume in the metaverse if I am getting paid for it. It feels a bit like making a promotion on Facebook or Instagram, as everybody else is going to see you with it. And a company should offer some goodies or monetary reward for people to promote their business.
I agree about the ban - it never solves the problem (if there is one at all) and only worsens things for the people whom the ban is supposed to protect. As for the Metaverse, you argue logically, but corporations have long switched to a model where users do everything themselves and also pay for it themselves, so I would not expect that the development of the Metaverses will take a different path. Of course, 0.001% of all users will receive some kind of compensation for their activity, but the rest will not.