Morality and Gambling Advertising - How far is too far?

Many jurisdictions have limited the advertising of gambling as a way of protecting the community from harm. There are however still many places (including for the moment Victoria) that still allow various forms of gambling advertising.

Content in the ads we see here usually promote jackpots or new games. Some people would call these ads immoral, as they would any type of advertising of gambling at all. However our ads are tame compared to those that appear in the world's gambling mecca, Las Vegas.

However Las Vegas Gaming Regulators are up in arms over the advertising by the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. With ads bordering on the obscene, this casino which targets young 'legal' gamblers has ads which breach general community standards on sexual content.

Regulators say the signs breach a gaming regulation that cites an operator's "failure to conduct advertising and public relations in accordance with decency, dignity, good taste, honesty and inoffensiveness"

Examples of the signs (may be offensive to some) include this one for the National Rodeo Finals and this clearly targeted at young men.

The Las Vegas Sun describes some of the content of the Regulators complaint:

An advertisement published in the Las Vegas Weekly newspaper around Nov. 17 shows a man and a woman on a gaming table, surrounded by playing cards and poker chips, with the caption,"There's always a temptation to cheat."
Another Nov. 17 ad in Las Vegas Weekly reads, "At the Hard Rock Hotel, we believe in your Monday night rights: large quantities of prescription stimulants (and) having wives in two states ... Tell your wives you are going; if they are hot, bring them along."

This is a casino which apart from targeting young people, is just down the road from UNLV, the main university in town and is famous for having various types of sexual misbehaviour occur in public on casino grounds and car parks.

But worse still, when faced with penalties for this type of advertising, they respond with this, their latest billboard. I will leave the meaning of the sign up to you, but it is fairly obvious.

Is this indicative of the moral ineptitude that some proponents of gambling will demonstrate in order to maximise profits.

We are just lucky that it doesn't happen here, but even without it is the types of gambling conducted in Victoria and other parts of Australia and the world any more morally correct?

What are you thoughts?

GG.