Explanation and study of the evolution of legal regulations related to the crime of gambling in Iranian criminal law

Abstract

Gambling means playing with special equipment that is often accompanied by winning and losing, and in which the loser is required to pay money or valuables to the winner. Gambling has been foreseen in terms of its jurisprudential history in the laws and has undergone changes over time with new developments in the Islamic Penal Code. The aim is to conduct a necessary investigation in terms of changes in new articles related to gambling and the emergence and development of spaces through which gambling is possible, and how the approach of Iranian criminal law in the existing reforms against gambling has been carried out. It is also careful to what extent the legislator has foreseen and legislated in this regard, which requires special attention to this criminal title. The method of conducting the present research is descriptive-analytical. The findings of such a study revealed in summary that gambling, due to its religious sanctity and the lack of significant punishment in the previous articles, has increased the intensity of the fight against gambling in the recent amendment, in contrast to its destructive effects, whether in the traditional or virtual space. In fact, the legislator has chosen an intensified and serious approach in this regard in order to fight this crime, which severely affects the financial, psychological and comfort aspects of society. In the amendment to the law, it has considered both the virtual and traditional spaces together, which is due to the urgent need to confront this crime and the spread of this crime in the present and future. The legislator has precisely stipulated in these articles that even if the bailiffs do not perform the relevant duties according to Article 710 of this amendment, they will face the punishment of dismissal and imprisonment or a fine. This was important to increase the psychological security of the society. In the amendment to the new law, it has been organized and placed together absolute and restricted crimes, it has mentioned the material element of this crime and criminalized it article by article like the previous articles. In fact, due to the financial nature of gambling crime, efforts have been made to address and punish this expanding phenomenon through traditional and virtual space together, rather than separately in the computer crime law regarding cyberspace, especially through new tools such as digital currencies or online gambling.