Restrictions can`t stop 100% of anything. Always someone will break it. It is true for gambling too.
But as i said in that thread, restrictions will stop lots of gamblers. Someone don`t know how to use VPN, someone is afraid to break the law, etc. As the result someone will continue the game, but someone will change the way how they spend their free time.
Gambling is prohibited in my country and gambling is a punishable offense. But gambling in my country has not decreased at all, but is increasing day by day. Gamblers are gambling online and offline everywhere and this shows that banning it cannot stop anything. There is a common belief that people are more interested in prohibited things.
So many governments think that they can control access to a website by banning it, but in reality, in this day and age, no one can be stopped by doing these things. People get access to them in different ways.
Do you remember the moment it was prohibited? Do you have some statistics before ban and after?
I understand that number of gamblers growing up - young men begin their protests, a part of adults learn what is VPN, etc.
But the difference before and after ban would say, that the number of gamblers decrease. So it means, that the government can use such tool. If the number of gamblers would grow up seriously - they can increase fines or make something about it.