History of illegal betting in sports
The United States has a long history of illegal gambling in sports. Gambling scandals and political control have led to the prohibition and regulation of sports gambling in the US. Laws that connected with sports gambling and other standards have already been changing and the changes have been named “Waves”. The first of these waves was during the Colonial Period that lasted till the 1800s. The next wave came about at the end of the US Civil war up until the early 20th century. The 3rd of such waves started during the Great Depression till date.
Sports gambling has always been illegal in the US. Puritan attitudes during the Colonial era were adopted towards sports and other gambling, possession of cards, gaming tables, dice etc. Later on it was only allowed if it had not been 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 linked to mobsters and organized crime in the US. Illegal sports gambling was a huge business for gang mobsters in the 1920s and 1930s. Organized bookmaking systems were set up by organized crime throughout the nation. Horse racing betting became popular during this period.
In 1931 Nevada legalized casino gambling and here too organized crime took control of all of the casino betting business. Mobsters controlled illegal nationwide wire services Trans America Wire and Continental Wire Service. Mobsters such as infamous Al Capone set up their own personal wire services to stop gamblers from getting any benefit of delays by making sure they posted winning bets before formal results were out.
The Federal Government of the US cracked upon mobsters and organized crime during 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 functioning within the nation yet it is evident that organized crime still controls all of the big money in betting.
Animal fights furthermore have a long history the United States in spite of the bad reputation it’s got. Most animal fights include dog fights and cock fights which are today favored by street gangs and big amounts of weapons and money usually are present in the course of these fights.
History of illegal gambling in sports reveals that cockfighting was illegal and banned by nearly all states in the US over 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 spend to take part in a game and possess chances to win money is a “bet” and therefore 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.