That is the truth in most of Western Europe at least,the tax from gambling is huge and it benefits directly the government in offering better public services to the citizens of such country.They know that gambling can get people into bad addiction but I think that most governments clearly call it a "collateral damage" which is providing much more benefits to the government than the damage it is doing to some few individuals and as such that is the reason that most gambling casinos continue to operate without any restriction in Western Europe at least this is the case.I would agree with this,to let casinos operate while the government benefits from huge taxes they collect for them and for those few addicted individuals,well no one told them to gamble and become addicted,no one forced them,it was their choice in the end.
In my country, gambling is welcome as long as you have legal papers and permits, authorities will let you run a business with reasonable taxes. It Might said that it creates bad attributes for the community making some people fall in love with gambling but aside from that, this will also give happiness and jobs to others.
Also the tax, but mostly the biggest effect on this is that it attracts more jobs because in my country there are tons of casinos that the owners are coming from all over the world as they knew that there are tons of people here that want to gamble. That is why there are tons of casinos here, and mostly when we hear it from the news, it can help people in jobs, and also again, the taxes, which is why the government supports it and helps them also in finding those illegal casinos and closing them down.