Economics Of Gambling Income

11 Pages 2787 Words

in the 1890's. The casino's were plush and usually had a buffet with alcohol. The operation made a lot of money, most from cheating. Each casino would hire agents to come in and claim winning keno numbers, afterwards giving most of it back to the casino. Counterfeit money was also handed out to the few people who happened to win. Any protest from a loser and he would end up with a black eye. Oscar Handlin said, An individual may sometimes take away substantial sums of money, but in the long run the banker must win.5 Essentially, gambling hurt society in the early years of America.

For the next 25 years, gambling became unpopular again because of reports of cheating and changing American values. Anything thought of to be harmful to society became illegal. For example, alcohol became illegal by Prohibition. The reintroduction of gambling resulted in the return of corruption and fraud. By the mid 1920's, state after state abolished its anti-gambling laws. Gambling had become more and more accepted because of churches holding bingo sessions and legitimate racetracks being built. In 1931, gambling became totally legalized in Nevada to replace the money the state was getting from depleted ore rich mountains.6 Organized crime started to turn toward gambling as their main source of income after Prohibition ended in 1933. These criminals made most of their money bootlegging alcohol during Prohibition, so once alcohol prices went down, they needed another way to make a lot of money fast: gambling.7

Organized crime started getting more involved with gambling once Las Vegas started to boom. Bugsy Siegal, a half insane murderer who was sent to Nevada to enforce mob control of the race wire services, opened up the first hotel/casino in Las Vegas. His hotel, the Flamingo began a long period of gang involvement in Las Vegas. In 1947, the Desert Inn opened, run by a gang from Cleveland. A savage group of people, including the infamous Meyer Lan...