Do you think it's impossible to stop people from betting legally or illegally if gambling has become a part of their culture
What do you think of the move good or bad.
Gambling has been around for way too long and I don't really think you can stop people from indulging in it either legally or illegally the only thing that a country will be able to achieve is reduce the rate of illegal gambling to the bare minimum. This is because most times the negative effects of gambling is usually more pronounced on people that engage in illegal gambling activities.
The government cannot completely ban gambling, no matter what efforts they make, people will still gamble, so it is more realistic to strictly regulate and supervise gambling practices, not simply ban them, and that is what the Hong Kong government did, they are probably tired of fighting illegal gambling and only losing more potential state revenue from it.
I don't think I've actually come across any article that claims gambling is illegal in a particular country but what I can say is literally all over the world gambling is illegal for underage persons.