History of illegal betting in sports
The USA has a long history of illegal gambling in sports. Gambling scandals and political control have led to the prohibition and regulating sports gambling in the USA. Laws that connected with sports gambling and other standards have been changing and the changes have been named “Waves”. The earliest of such waves was during the Colonial Period that lasted till the 1800s. The next wave took place following the US Civil war up until the early Twentieth century. The 3rd of these waves started in the Great Depression till date.
Sports gambling has always been illegal in America. Puritan attitudes while in the Colonial era were adopted towards sports and also other gambling, possession of cards, gaming tables, dice etc. Down the line it was only allowed if it was not a trade but only innocent recreation. Early settlers had the view that gambling was only a harmless hobby. Gambling was likened to the frontier spirit as both of them involved opportunism, risk taking and high expectations.
Illegal sports betting has always been linked to mobsters and organized crime in the United States. Illegal sports gambling was a huge business for gang mobsters 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 over all the casino betting business. Mobsters controlled illegal nationwide wire services Trans America Wire and Continental Wire Service. Mobsters such as infamous Al Capone put in place their own personal wire services to prevent gamblers from getting any benefit from delays by making sure they posted winning bets before official results were out.
The Federal Government of the usa cracked down on mobsters and organized crime over the 1950s and drove them outside the Nevada Casino gambling industry. But this did 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 manages all of the big bucks in betting.
Animal fights furthermore have a long history the United States despite the not so good reputation it has. Most animal fights involve dog fights and cock fights that have become favored by street gangs and big numbers of weapons and cash usually are present in the course of these fights.
History of illegal gambling in sports uncovers that cockfighting was illegal and banned by nearly all states the United States during the 1800s. It is still illegal currently in 48 states. Legal issues in Minnesota makes any king of gambling bet Illegal. Thus any sort of card game where one has to spend to participate in a game and possess possibilities to win money is a “bet” and therefore also thought to be illegal gambling. It is important to note that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 only deals with the funding of internet gambling not the actual act of betting.