Gambling in Hainan not zero-sum game

IN A DOCUMENT on expanding Hainan's opening-up issued by the central authorities on Saturday, the largest special economic zone and the to-be largest pilot free trade zone is encouraged to develop horse racing and lottery industries, particularly the in-play competitive sports lotteries. Beijing News comments:

The lottery business is by no means, as some people say, a zero-sum game posing threats to family and social stability. Rather, it should be viewed as a kind of entertainment, particularly to the risk takers, not a bottomless pit entrapping people to lose all their money.

For a long time the industry has been demonized, but it is time people updated their views on it, as it has prospered within legal frameworks in many places around the world without becoming a hotbed of social problems and troublemaking.