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 related to sports gambling along with other standards have been changing and these changes have been named “Waves”. The earliest of such waves was during the Colonial Period that lasted till the 1800s. The second wave took place following the US Civil war up until the early Twentieth century. The third of such waves started during the Great Depression till date.
Sports gambling has always been illegal in America. Puritan attitudes during the Colonial era were adopted towards sports and also 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. arbitrage betting pitfalls
Illegal sports betting has always been 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 set up 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 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 personal wire services to prevent gamblers from getting any benefit of delays by making sure they posted winning wagers before official results were out.
The Federal Government of the US cracked upon mobsters and organized crime during the 1950s and drove 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 obvious that organized crime still manages all of the big bucks in betting.
Animal fights also have a long history in the US in spite of the not so good reputation it has. Most animal fights involve dog fights and cock fights which are today popular with street gangs and large numbers 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 nearly all states in the US over the 1800s. It is still illegal today in 48 states. Legal issues 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 have chances to win cash is a “bet” and therefore also considered to be illegal gambling. It is important to keep in mind that the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 only refers to the funding of internet gambling not the actual act of betting.