'Nasa likod ninyo ang pamahalaan!'

SIGNS AND WONDERS

- DIWA C. GUINIGUNDO

We can assess and describe President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr.s' 2025 State of the Nation Address (SONA) a hundred ways, but two stand out.

Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's nudging did not seem to work on the President and those who helped him craft the SONA.

Despite the elephants in the room, the SONA ignored online gambling and the tariff issues, among other wildlife.

There was no better time than the SONA for the President to have defined his Administration's position on legislation seeking to ban or to regulate e-gambling.

Such an omission could betray a lack of heart over the snowballing impact on families with members grappling with a gambling addiction, and those whose finances were simply wiped out by gambling debts. True, even Singapore has succumbed to gambling, which includes card games, roulette, and slot machines, and the city state is now the third biggest market in the casino industry.

While gambling there is tightly regulated through strict laws to ensure law and order, the adverse social implications cannot be dismissed. This is one instance that we would rather not be cited as among the top in the world just an emerging market. Yet we already have colossal issues with gambling losses.

Economists may argue that the market will always find ways to gamble, especially online, so banning the activity does not make much sense as it will never work.

On the other hand, regulation sets the rules of the game, and we know parameters tend to limit excessive behavior. What is more, the government can even make money from taxes and other fees.