It is estimated that only 1-3% of sports gambling activities are accounted for in the Nevada Sports books and the majority of the gambling is the illegal gambling in sports. The FBI believed in 1998 this illegal sports gambling was an industry worth billions of dollars.
Illegal gambling in sports includes different types of activities. Many of these illegal bets on various sporting events are put with sportsbooks or bookies. Internet gambling is an extremely popular method of gambling. Other sporting events are those that happen to be illegal and linked to gambling such as dog fighting and cockfighting.
Illegal gambling in sports has been associated with organized crime for many years in the US. In the 1920s and 1930s illegal sports gambling had been a business for gang mobsters and they also established organized bookmaking around the nation. Emphasis was on horse racing at that time. Nevada legalized casino betting in 1931 and here too organized crime controlled a major portion of casino gambling business. Continental Wire Service and Trans America Wire were the 2 main illegal wire services which were operated by mobsters.
In the 1950s the government came down hard on organized crime and drove the mobsters out of the casino industry in Nevada. They were then taken over by corporations, and also the mob took over the illegal bookmaking business. The majority of illegal books provide bookies which are illegal ways of spreading risks on wagers.
The act of transmitting wagering and gambling information and details across state lines for either taking or placing bets is recognized as illegal. News details regarding point spreads could be reported just for entertainment and informational purposes but a majority of US newspapers still release betting lines. This practice is defended by way of the Newspaper Association of America as “free speech” under the First Amendment in the Constitution, claiming that readers only want to learn or find out about teams favored to become winners instead of for betting.
Some other illegal gambling in sports involves animal fights that occur in the US regardless of the unsavory reputation it has. These staged fights involve animals such as dogs that are trained and bred for this specific purpose and male chickens. This type of animal fighting is usually within the rural areas but city police reports on dog fighting and cockfighting have risen and also this sport is the rage among gangs on the street. This type of illegal sports betting activity is a great concern for the authorities because of the weapons and large amounts of hard cash present at the fights.
The matter of illegal gambling in sports is really a question of grave concern. Minnesota laws make any type of wager or bet illegal. It is best if the gambler finds out all the laws associated with sports gambling in his state or area prior to placing bets over a sporting event. Many states declare sports betting as illegal in the United States except for Nevada, Montana and one or two additional states.