History of unlawful betting in sports
The USA has a long history of illegal gambling in sports. Gambling scandals and political control have ended in the prohibition and regulation of sports gambling in the US. Laws that related to sports gambling along with other standards have been changing and these changes are actually described as “Waves”. The earliest of such waves was during the Colonial Period that lasted up until the 1800s. The second wave came about following the US Civil war till the early 20th century. The 3rd of such waves started in the Great Depression till date.
Sports gambling has long been illegal in the US. Puritan attitudes while in the Colonial era were adopted towards sports and other gambling, possessing cards, gaming tables, dice etc. Later on it was only allowed if this was not a trade but only innocent recreation. Early settlers had the view that gambling was just a harmless past time. Gambling was likened to the frontier spirit as both of them involved opportunism, risk taking and high expectations.
Illegal sports gambling has always been associated with mobsters and organized crime in the US. Illegal sports gambling was a huge business for gang mobsters while in the 1920s and 1930s. Organized bookmaking systems were put in place by organized crime throughout the nation. Horse racing betting became popular in those times.
In 1931 Nevada legalized casino gambling and here too organized crime took control of all of the casino betting business. Mobsters operated illegal nationwide wire services Trans America Wire and Continental Wire Service. Mobsters such as infamous Al Capone put in place their own wire services to prevent gamblers from getting any benefit of delays by making sure they posted winning bets before official results were out.
The Federal Government of the usa cracked upon mobsters and organized crime over the 1950s and forced them outside the Nevada Casino gambling industry. But this would not deter the organized crime mobsters who took over illegal bookmaking. Law Enforcement authorities do acknowledge that independent bookies are operating within the nation but it is evident that organized crime still controls all of the big bucks in betting.
Animal fights furthermore have a long history the United States in spite of the bad reputation it has. Most animal fights involve dog fights and cock fights that have become favored by street gangs and large numbers of weapons and money usually are present at the time of these fights.
History of illegal gambling in sports reveals that cockfighting was illegal and banned by most states in the US during the 1800s. It remains illegal currently in 48 states. Legal issues in Minnesota makes any king of gambling bet Illegal. Thus any sort of card game where you’ve got to pay to participate in a game and have chances to win money is a “bet” and thus also considered to be illegal gambling. It is important to keep in mind that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 only deals with the funding of internet gambling not the actual act of betting.
