Legalized gambling brings big revenue for the cities.

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Aydin  

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THESIS: Legalized gambling brings big revenue for the cities. Taxes, tourism incomes increase. But at the same time violent crimes increase about 200 percent in the city. Social-welfare costs, gambling problems, losses of jobs, economic disruption of other businesses increase. Population goes down. We can say that it brings nothing but crime, corruption, demoralization of moral and ethical standards, lower living standards.

Introduction

  1. Historical Introduction
  2. Legalized Gambling Types

+ Casinos

+ State Lotteries (gambling by the government)

  1. Legalized Gambling and Its Economical Effects
  2. Legalized Gambling and Its Social Effects
  3. Some Statistics and Graphics
  4. One Example for Legalized Gambling: Minnesota

Conclusion


Historical Introduction

          Gambling was popular in North America long before the USA was founded. “Playing cards and dice were brought by the British. By the end of the 17th century, just about every

country seat in colonial America had a lottery wheel. Cockfighting flourished throughout the countries, especially in the South. Bear Baiting was also a popular sport, but the Puritans banned it.” (Orbitz, 1984, p. 46)        

        “Almost 100 years later gambling in the West gave gambling a second life. Early church leaders struck down all forms of gambling and so in the East gambling for the most part died completely. Far from both government controls and moral interference of reform groups in the East, gambling became so popular in the West that Monte tables were often setup in the middle of the town.” (Donovan, 1978, p. 78)

          The first private lottery was established for Washington DC beautification in 1823.But the organizers absconded with the proceeds and they never paid the prize. Lotteries were not the only type of gambling during this time. Horseracing was popular type of gambling. It was not neither quite as organized nor popular as today. It was limited to a few friendly bets between owners of horses and their partisans. The first racetrack in North America was built on Long Island in 1665.

          Casino gambling started slowly. Some taverns and roadhouses allowed dice and card games. Because of low population there weren’t too many gaming houses. With population increasing new casinos were established in early 1800s. New Orleans had become the gambling center for the United States. (Orbitz, 1984)

        During Mid 1800s and early 1900 the gold rush brought huge increasing of gambling and different types of gambling to California. San Francisco had replaced the place of New Orleans as a gambling center in the United States. Gambling market was getting stronger and wider at this time.(Orbitz, 1984)

          The apex of California gambling was from 1849 to 1855. Gambling became widespread throughout the state whether it was in Mexican towns like Monterey, mountain towns like Mariposa, or growing cities such as Sacramento. During this period, gambling tended to be integrated. Patrons included women, blacks, and Chinese. By 1850, both the state and cities were licensing gambling establishments to raise money. (Barker and Britz, 2000)

          As settlers spread beyond California, so did gambling. In general, gambling and the west were intimately linked. Gambling was especially widespread in the mining camps that multiplied as the miners spread across the west searching for new strikes.

Legalized Gambling Types:

 a) Casinos;

          As casino lord, Meyer Lansky's universal gambling truth states; “Gamblers never win, the house never loses". (Smith, 1961)

         “In 1995 Americans wagered $550 billion on legalized gambling in the United States. Illegal gambling adds about $50 billion to this total. Over eighty-five percent of this wagering took place in casinos. Twenty years ago private gambling was prohibited in every state except Nevada. If someone wanted to gamble they had to travel to Nevada. At that time Americans wagered about $17 billion. Nowadays, there are only six states in which no form of legalized gambling exists. Casino gambling is legal in 27 states nowadays.” (State Legislative Magazine, April 1986, p. 29)

The Indian Casinos, which is another type of casino in the United States, began to spring up in early 1990s with federal law changes. In 1987, the United States Supreme Court announced a decision that changed the structure of federal gambling law. “The case, California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, declared that a state which allows certain gambling contests to be conducted in any capacity must also allow them to be played on Indian reservations.” (Minnesota Family Council)

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In 1999, the U.S. Congress established the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which required tribes to negotiate compacts with the states governing the play of games before they could conduct gambling on their lands. The states started to control the Indian Tribes by this law change. But states could negotiate for a minimum age of players, regulations on security in tribal casinos, and other safeguards to maintain the integrity of the operations. (Minnesota Family Council)

b) State Lotteries (gambling by the government)

          The lottery was allowed by some colonies before the independence. Most of these lotteries ...

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