In a country where betting and casino ads ambush you at every step, and gambling parlors sprout up even next to schools, the new Law on Games of Chance arrives as an attempt by the government to finally draw a line. The draft law, now in public debate, introduces rules that until now either didn't exist or that nobody respected.

The most concrete measure is clear: casinos will not be allowed within a 500-meter radius of schools. On top of that, strict limits are being placed on gambling advertising, along with stronger protection for citizens, especially the young. The government adopted the harmonized text of the law and sent it to Parliament, arguing the goal is greater oversight of the sector.

As usually happens when a sector starts getting rules, the reaction didn't take long. Operators' associations, among them APIS and ASOM, oppose this solution, claiming it will cost jobs and that there are constitutional problems. Arguments that always sound the same when it comes to a business that earned well in the absence of regulation.

The question citizens should ask themselves is whose good is the priority: the profit of an industry that lives off other people's addiction, or the protection of children who walk past the flashing neon ads every single day? Five hundred meters is not a revolution - it's the bare minimum of decency. If even that minimum meets resistance, maybe that says most of all how deeply gambling has taken root in everyday life.