History of unlawful 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 regulating sports gambling in the USA. Laws that related to sports gambling along with other standards have already been changing and these changes have been named “Waves”. The earliest of these waves was during the Colonial Period that lasted up until the 1800s. The next wave came about at the end of the US Civil war up until the early Twentieth century. The 3rd of such waves started during the Great Depression till date.
Sports gambling has long been illegal in the US. Puritan attitudes during the Colonial era were adopted towards sports and also 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 hobby. Gambling was likened to the frontier spirit as each of them involved opportunism, risk taking and high expectations.
Illegal sports betting has become associated with mobsters and organized crime in the United States. 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 all over the nation. Horse racing betting shot to popularity 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 like the infamous Al Capone set up their own personal wire services to prevent gamblers from getting any benefit of 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 did not deter the organized crime mobsters who took over illegal bookmaking. Law Enforcement authorities do acknowledge that independent bookies are functioning in the nation but it is evident that organized crime still controls all the big bucks in betting.
Animal fights furthermore have a long history in the US despite the bad reputation it has. Most animal fights include dog fights and cock fights that have become popular with street gangs and big amounts of weapons and money are usually present at the time of these fights.
History of illegal gambling in sports reveals that cockfighting was illegal and banned by nearly all states the United States during the 1800s. It is still illegal currently in 48 states. The law in Minnesota makes any king of gambling bet Illegal. Thus any type 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 essential 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.