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 USA. Laws that connected with sports gambling along with other standards have been changing and these changes have been named “Waves”. The first of these waves was in the Colonial Period that lasted till the 1800s. The next wave took place following the US Civil war till the early Twentieth century. The third of these waves started during the Great Depression till date.
Sports gambling has long been illegal in America. 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 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 each 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 became 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 over all 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 personal wire services to stop gamblers from getting any benefit of delays by making sure they posted winning wagers before formal results were out.
The Federal Government of the usa cracked upon mobsters and organized crime during the 1950s and forced them out of 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 yet it is obvious that organized crime still manages all the big bucks in betting.
Animal fights furthermore have a long history in the US in spite of the bad reputation it has. Most animal fights involve dog fights and cock fights which are today favored by street gangs and big numbers of weapons and money usually are present at the time of these fights.
History of illegal gambling in sports uncovers that cockfighting was illegal and banned by most states the United States over the 1800s. It remains illegal currently in 48 states. The law in Minnesota makes any king of gambling bet Illegal. Thus any sort of card game where one has to pay to participate in a game and possess chances to win cash is a “bet” and thus 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 specific act of betting.
