The author of the thesis wok conducted complex analysis of current status of gambling business, defined its reasons and conditions, studied the personality of criminal who is engaged in gambling business, as well as developed preventive measures to the crime mentioned above. The defender of thesis made proposals related to the optimization of preventive activity, recommendations to the improvement of both current criminal legislation and gambling business prevention practice, taking into account foreign experience. Gambling business has a high level of latency conditioned by the hidden location of gambling establishments, high demand for gambling games among gamers, improper qualification of law-enforcement officers when finding out and documenting the mentioned offences, the secret shelter of gambling business by individual law enforcement officers.
As a result of criminological analysis of gambling business, the main factors for committing this type of crime were defined, among which three are interrelating factors, namely, a desire of criminal to be enriched in an illegal way, a demand for gambling by players who have gaming addiction, and a lack of response on the part of government authorities and law enforcement bodies as to the detection of this kind of offences.
It is being noted by the author that the measures of general social prevention shall be aimed at taking social and economic, organizational and management, cultural and upbringing, legal and other measures to a higher, more qualitative level. The attention was turned to the necessity of developing and performing special programs for purposes of overcoming problems of social and economic nature; provision of government support to entrepreneurs; realization of purposeful policy focused on support of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship; improvement of social support; raising legal consciousness and legal culture of population; raising culture and morality in society.
As measures of criminological prevention of gambling business, the author proposed to emphasize proactive measures, among which there are in legal sphere – to enhance criminal responsibility for being engaged in gambling business and to take appropriate acts, regulating circulation of gaming equipment in the country; in technical sphere – to provide law enforcement bodies with special tools for detection and termination of gambling business.
Restrictions shall be aimed at the creation of government-sanctioned programs devoted to boosting employment of population, professional re-orientation and job placement assistance for people released from the places of deprivation of liberty. Among the measures of protection, the work of police authorities is crucial, which consists in discovery and verification of probable location of gambling establishments, and checking business entities by the authorized government bodies with a particular focus on operators conducting lottery.
As to the prevention of gambling business, people who were previously convicted for being engaged in gambling business shall be systematically controlled; contra-measures shall be taken using agent networks focused on discovery and prevention of a crime at the stage emphasize the activity related to the prevention of criminal mind occurrence among people who were previously hold liable for commitment of crimes in the field of economic activity and people who were engaged in gambling business prior to the introduction of prohibition.
A special attention is paid to the prevention of such a social and psychological phenomenon as gaming addiction and steps to be taken aimed at the prohibition of its spread among the population, since the gaming addiction plays an important role in the structure of the gambling business prevention. These measures shall be introduced proactively: by means of awareness-building related to the gambling business penal prohibition, establishment of punishment by warning or fine for parents whose children are participated in gambling; as to restriction: creation of rehabilitation centres to help people with gaming addiction; as to elimination: introduction of agitation against participation in gambling in mass media. It is proposed taking into account of the studied foreign experience for prevention of unlawful gambling business to enhance monitoring of lottery operators, to introduce age restriction to 21 as to participation of individuals in lottery conducting.
