Gambling has always had its dark side. It was not so long ago that most countries were content to leave the business to a few cities like Las Vegas, Macao and Monte Carlo. In respectable nations, gambling was considered inherently immoral. It corrupted public officials, attracted racketeers and organized crime. It addicted and indebted the most vulnerable and gullible of the citizens. And so it was outlawed or kept under tight state control. But look around now. Cash-strapped governments are turning greedily to lotteries to raise an extra buck - or hundred million. They are rushing to approve new casinos so they can tax a golden stream of revenue that totals more than $16 billion a year in the United States alone.

The decline of Communist and authoritarian states has unleashed what gambling expert Nelson Rose calls the biggest gambling boom since Francisco Franco’s death in 1975 turned Spain into the slot-machine capital of the world. Manila recently announced plans to build the world’s biggest casino. Uruguay has hired Hilton to build South America’s biggest casino. Greece is building an American-style mega-casino.

It looks like easy money, but, as governments are starting to find out, it’s not Easy street. In Russia the gambling scene seems like something out of Vegas in the mobster days. Burly guards politely ask patrons for their guns and that’s at the good places. There are 264 casinos already, and new ones open at the rate of five a week. Many are reputed to be money-laundering fronts for the Mafia, while the government officially taxes casino at a rate of 90%.

The United States, where gambling is highly regulated, is having an explosion of its own. Americans have made gambling their country’s most lucrative pastime - a bigger business than Hollywood and baseball combined. They bet nearly $500 billion and lost $39 billion on legal gambling last year - a fourfold increase in just 10 years.