History of illegal betting in sports
The United States 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 and other standards have already been changing and these changes have been described as “Waves”. The earliest of such waves was in the Colonial Period that lasted up until the 1800s. The second wave took place following the US Civil war up until the early 20th century. The 3rd of these waves started during 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. Down the line it was only allowed if this 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. list of sport betting websites
Illegal sports gambling has always been associated with 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 all over 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 set up their own wire services to prevent gamblers from taking any benefit from delays by making sure they posted winning bets before formal results were out.
The Federal Government of the usa cracked down on mobsters and organized crime during the 1950s and forced them out of the Nevada Casino gambling industry. But this would not dissuade the organized crime mobsters who took over illegal bookmaking. Law Enforcement authorities do acknowledge that independent bookies are operating within the nation yet it is evident that organized crime still controls all the big bucks in betting.
Animal fights furthermore have a long history the United States despite the bad reputation it’s got. Most animal fights involve dog fights and cock fights which are today popular with street gangs and large numbers of weapons and cash usually are present in the course of these fights.
History of illegal gambling in sports reveals that cockfighting was illegal and banned by most states the United States over the 1800s. It remains illegal today in 48 states. The law in Minnesota makes any king of gambling bet Illegal. Thus any type of card game where one has to spend to take part in a game and have chances to win money is a “bet” and thus also thought to be illegal gambling. It is essential to note that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 only deals with the funding of internet gambling not the specific act of betting.
