i saw a post here once asking about whether banning gambling will actually solve some problems. well even with gambling deemed illegal, it has not completely disappeared from a country. for example, in north korea gambling is illegal for its citizens.
but there are still gambling events that take place most often organized by some authorities or really rich and powerful people. i guess that making gambling illegal is just a way to make it less accessible to the general public but the rich always finds a way.
there was even a case where north koreans are targeting foreigners and selling them their own made gambling platforms.
North Korean IT workers created and sold thousands of illegal gambling websites to South Korean criminals to raise billions of dollars keep in mind that gambling is also illegal in south korea. so my point is, everyone eventually finds a way.
One needs to realize that when comes to gaming, there will be always demand from gamblers to satisfy their urge to wager money and more some of their wealth at risk, either for the sake of fun or because the actually believe they can profit from casinos. Regardless of the reason, as long as there is demand there will be supply for these kind of services, not matter how strict the country and it's laws are regarding this topic.
Also, I am not sure it would be proper to use North Korea as an example of anything, to be honest, as we would not be talking about a normal country where citizens have equal rights and basic possibilities to gamblez even if it is in underground platforms, bookies or casinos. For the simple fact NK is not a normal country, so there are no references of comparison available in other republics around the planned.
Also, we should keep in mind Gambling is often offered as a way to bring in tourist into a country, but tourism in North Korea is rather a niche o of a market and not a massive number of people would dare to spend their vacations inna country were people are literally kept captive by their own political elite.