History of illegal gambling 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 related to sports gambling and other standards have been changing and these changes have been described as “Waves”. The first of these waves was during the Colonial Period that lasted till the 1800s. The second wave took place at the end of the US Civil war till the early 20th century. The third of these 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 was not a trade but only innocent recreation. Early settlers had the view that gambling was only 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 associated with mobsters and organized crime in the US. Illegal sports gambling became a huge business for gang mobsters in the 1920s and 1930s. Organized bookmaking systems were set up by organized crime all over 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 the casino betting business. Mobsters operated illegal nationwide wire services – Trans America Wire and Continental Wire Service. Mobsters like the infamous Al Capone set up their own wire services to prevent gamblers from taking any benefit of delays by making sure they posted winning wagers before official results were out.

The Federal Government of the US cracked down on mobsters and organized crime during the 1950s and drove 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 operating in the nation but it is obvious that organized crime still controls all the big money in betting.

Animal fights also have a long history in the US in spite of the bad reputation it has. Most animal fights involve dog fights and cock fights that have become popular with street gangs and large amounts of weapons and cash are usually present at the time of these fights.

History of illegal gambling in sports reveals that cockfighting was illegal and banned by most states in the US during the 1800s. It is still 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 pay to take part in a game and have chances to win money is a “bet” and therefore also considered 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.