Gone are the days where gambling is only associated with criminal activities and the mentality is what a lot of people have carried from that time past till this moment. This view is actually not limited to any particular region its one of the most universal myopic view.
I want to believe that mentality based on how gambling has been perceived right from the onset is actually the main reason why a lot of people still link criminal activities with gambling related activities. Now, that there are regulations in some casinos, and they obviously will not want their license taken away from them, or the owner being in a mess with the government for illegal activities, I am sure a lot of criminal activities have been curtailed in the gambling world.
I can say that gambling is the mother of all these crimes because when you get frustrated you will do such bad things.
I guess anyone from this gambling community will agree with you as no one could predict what a frustrated gambler will do. Also, ending up in severe frustration in gambling is a most common event, we do see both in online and physical casino. An addicted gambler may turn as a criminal at any time as their urge to continue gambling may enforce them to do anything.
Gambling is a bad thing no matter online or regular and a bad thing has always bad consequences. Many people say that gambling is the mother of all crimes, because ordinary people who care for their families will never gambler, because it is hard to lose your money in gambling and back to your home with empty pocket.