19 casinos and crime in the Usa

The modern casino era in the USA began in 1931 when Nevada legalized commercial casinos. Since then, Las Vegas has grown into the premier casino destination in the USA. It was not until 1976 that commercial casinos were legalized elsewhere (Atlantic City, NJ). The latest wave of commercial and tribal casino development began with the Supreme Court’s 1987 decision in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians and the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). At stake in California v. Cabazon was whether tribal gaming fell under the State’s regulatory powers. The Court held that states lacked authority to regulate tribal gambling. With the IGRA, Congress delegated power to the states to regulate Indian gaming and laid down conditions under which tribal gaming could be offered. In practice, the legislation has meant that federally recognized Indian tribes can offer a particular form of gambling on their reservation, so long as that type of gambling is not banned under state law. States are expected to negotiate with the tribes in good faith in developing state–tribal compacts for casinos. As a result of these legal events, tribal and commercial casinos began to spread across the USA in the late 1980s. As of 2007, there were more than 460 commercial casinos operating in 12 states, with revenues of over $34 billion. Figure 19.1 shows the trend in commercial casino revenues since 1998. Taxes paid to state governments were $5.8 billion (American Gaming Association, 2008). There are over 420 tribal casinos in 29 states, with 2007 revenues estimated at over $26 billion (National Indian Gaming Commission, 2008). The trend in indian casino revenues is also shown in figure 19.1. casino gambling has been one of the fastestgrowing service/entertainment industries in the USA during the past two decades. Table 19.1 summarizes the commercial casino industry at the state level for 2007, showing revenues, taxes paid, and legalization and beginning operation dates. Prior to the new wave of commercial casino legalization in the 1990s, many people regarded the casino industry as being run largely by organized crime, perhaps as portrayed in the movie Casino (1995). However, as new states legalized commercial casinos they created government regulatory bodies. Most casinos are now corporate owned and managed, and the old stereotype of casinos as mob moneylaundering operations has faded.1 Still, crime associated with casinos is a major issue of contention in the casino legalization and expansion debate. The American Gaming Association (AGA) represents much of the commercial casino industry. It provides information and research about the industry to the public, and promotes the industry’s interests to the media, politicians and the public. Among the information the industry publishes each year in its annual survey, The State of the States, is a survey of the public. One telling statistic is that the acceptance of gambling, and casino gambling in particular, is relatively high. Around 85 percent of the public