summaries

· Gambling’s setting and character are diverse

· casino, riverboat, card room, lottery, off-track, and electronic versions available.

· Electronic versions make state, and even national, boundaries increasingly meaningless

· In the face of gambling's rising popularity, effectively organized oppositional groups are raising serious doubts about the accuracy of economic impact arguments and are revisiting long-standing questions about the impact of gambling on the moral fiber of the country

· Addictive or problem gambling has been given diagnostic credibility by professional treatment groups - a real and potentially more serious social problem

· Some legitimate question about the ability of states to properly regulate gaming in America

· The creation of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission in 1996, twenty years after the last federal effort to review federal gambling policy, represented a renewed interest of the federal government in potential gambling regulation, particularly since gambling plays a significant role in the national economy in general and the leisure economy in particular

· Gambling was one of the cases that gave meaning to the term "interstate commerce" when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1903 that lotteries could be regulated by the federal government because lottery tickets were sent from one state to another

· Several reasons why federal government would be interested in the regulation of any activity.

· Protecting public interest

· Protect public trust by making sure the public is treated fairly

· Standardize the conditions under which an activity is operated among states;

· Establish an activity as a stable source of revenue

· Make sure the activity is controlled, which gives an appearance of credibility to that activity, guaranteeing that it will be able to continue to operate successfully

· Gaming regulation contributes to the solvency of the wagering business, thus making it attractive to endowment and pension fund investors who would not ordinarily invest in the gambling industry for fear of the influence of organized crime or the operation of dishonest games

· The control of organized crime and the collection of taxes served as the basic motivations for early gaming regulation by the federal government

· The Kefauver Commission, also known as the Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, was formed in the early 1950s to determine the extent to which organized crime was involved in gambling, particularly Nevada gambling

· The committee hearings stimulated the creation of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which is charged with the responsibility for the day-to-day control and regulation of gambling management, fiscal, and personnel procedures

· Kefauver Commission generated the Gaming Devices Act of 1951, or the Johnson Act, which prohibited the transportation of gaming devices, particularly slot machines, across state lines.

· This act also applied to gambling ships that would operate gambling off the coast of the United States in U.S. territorial waters

· The target of Gaming Devices Act of 1951 was the stationary barge moored just offshore and not cruise ships

· It did not apply to foreign-owned ships.

· The act was amended in 1992, making it possible for cruise ships to offer gambling if devices were not taken on shore, if gambling was not the sole activity of the cruise ship, and if the gambling operation was not prohibited by the state of origin

· Thus the U.S. Flag Cruise Ship Competitiveness Act repealed the prohibition against gaming aboard vessels with American registry and removed a potential legislative obstacle to riverboat gambling

· The enforcement of the provisions of the Johnson Act produced few prosecutions in federal court

· It was symbolic of the federal interest in controlling organized crime and had virtually no impact on organized crime or the control of illegal gambling

· In the 1960s, Robert Kennedy sought additional control of syndicated gambling by orchestrating the enactment of three provisions designed to further restrict gambling activity within state borders

· First, there was the addition of Section 1084 to Title 18 of the U.S. Code, also called the Interstate Wire Act of 1961, which prohibited the interstate transportation of wagering information or wagers

· This section did not apply to individuals, but only to those in the business of gambling – so papers can print betting lines

· The constitutionality of this provision has been upheld

· It eliminated race wire networks, but it did not really dismantle interstate betting networks

· In addition, the Travel Act was enacted to prohibit travel with the intent to en- gage in certain unlawful behaviors, including gambling

· This act prohibited the business of gambling, not social betting, and it did curtail some illegal gambling casinos or what are called "sneak joints“

· It prohibited the interstate transportation of wagering paraphernalia such as materials related to sports and race bookmaking, except where legal