Legalization Of Gambling In Ohio Essays - Online Gambling, Gambling

Legalization Of Gambling In Ohio Legalization of Gambling in Ohio The words Casinos and Gambling are often associated with gangsters, prostitution, murderers, and all the illegal operations one could think of. Those kinds of stereotypes are picked up in movies like Casino and the countless other gangster and casino related movies that are based in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, but that was then and this is now. While there may be some vestigial ties between organized crime and casinos, gambling is now big business (Weissman 1). The term gambling or gaming as the industry calls it, means any legalized form of wagering or betting conducted in a casino, on a riverboat, on an Indian reservation, or at any other location under the jurisdiction of the United States (National Gambling Impact Study Commission Act). The hobby of gambling is a part of most people lives. Casual bets on the Bulls and Knicks game or a weekend poker game at your buddies house are both forms of gambling. Gambling is a multi-billion dollar industry and Amy J. Seifert said in her article The Stakes that gambling has become one of the nations fastest growing industries (Seifert 2). Ohio can get a piece of that if they legalize all forms of gambling. Gambling, like baseball, is a national pastime. Gambling is deeply imbedded in the history of United States. Many settlers in Jamestown had their passageway paid for by the sale of lottery tickets. The revolutionary army was funded by lottery tickets also--Gen. George Washington bought the first one. In the 18th Century, buildings at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were financed by lotteries (History of Gambling...1). Many people of the 1800s wouldnt be caught dead without a deck of cards. Despite its illegality, gambling during the 1860s was a popular pastime among the miners of Virginia City and Gold hill... A deck of cards was as much a part of a miners possessions as was the pick with which he unearthed silver from the mines (History of Gambling...1). The first territorial legislature that outlawed games of chance wasnt written until 1861(History of Gambling...1), but the law was unenforced. Probably because the cops themselves were playing. Nothing could be done to stop gambling so they tried to regulate it. In 1869 when the state legislature enacted a law requiring a license to operate a game, the state and local governments filled their coffers with the fees charged gaming operators (History of Gambling...1). Nevada legislature ordered all gambling establishments to close their doors in 1910 (History of Gambling...1). So what does someone do when something becomes outlawed? They go underground, and thats what people did. During the ban, gangsters Big Bill Graham and Jimmy The Couch Mckay operated illegal halls and monopolized prostitution and bootlegging when prohibition was enacted in 1919 (History of Gambling...1). When the Great Depression set-in, everyone looked for ways to make some money. During the depression, state legislators sought out ways to increase state revenues. Phil Tobin, a Nevada legislator from Winnemucca argued that since gambling still existed despite laws banning it, the state should legalize gambling and tax it. They did (History of gambling...1). In 1931, the state of Nevada legalized gambling.(History of Gambling...1). Casino gaming did not become a major industry until after World War II, when it flourished in response to increasing social acceptance and population booms in California and other western states (History of Gambling...1). The first respectable casinos were built in Reno by the Smiths and Bill Harrah in the mid-1930s. The Smiths and his partners opened Harolds Club and Harrah opened Harrahs (History of Gambling...1). Those clubs were alright but nothing compared to the casino being built down south in Las Vegas. Las Vegas was a small town until gangster Benjamin Bugsy Siegal changed the citys character forever by constructing its first lavish hotel-casino in 1945 (Gambling-Encarta). It was know as the Flamingo. The casino industry started and there was no looking back. Nevadas economy exploded and has made trillions to date. Gambling isnt just rolling the dice and praying for a seven or eleven. There are many different types of legalized gambling. The most obvious being casino-style gambling. Someone could play roulette, card and dice games, slot machines, and electronic games such as video poker and video slots. Other forms of gambling include Horse racing-the wagering of money on the outcome of a horse race, Indian gambling-the gambling allowed on Indian owned land. In 1988, Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act which reestablished the right of sovereign Indian tribes