Gambling and Increasing Crime - Coursework Example

Gambling and Increasing Crime Gambling is a very vast business in certain parts of the world and in others it constitutes a major part of illegal doings. There has been a link between gambling and crime since the inception of the idea of the sport, as considered in areas. Where there is illegal gambling there is an outright crime by the mere indulgence in the process but how does it affect the crime in localities where the practice is said to exist legally? This paper will attempt to look at gambling and the link that it has to crime and attempt to assess whether gambling does cause an increase in crime rate in areas or if that is just mere speculation. Whether the idea that legalizing gambling will actually help to decrease the crime rate and if it is itself a good idea to do so. There are many sides to this argument and while some critics outright claim that crime is caused by gambling there are many others who will claim otherwise. Some hold that gambling does not cause crime but helps to better society. HISTORICAL CONTEXT Gambling has been a part of society for a very long time and it can take many forms and shapes. There are various definitions of the idea which is more or less taken to mean the betting of money or other valuables on the outcome of a certain event. In 1566 England, for the first time, chartered a lottery and by 1620 there was regular gambling or wagering on dog races in England. However, in 1621 the first form of restrictions were placed on gambling and then in 1815 there were licenses handed over to the city of New Orleans for gambling and by 1827 John Davis had opened a fully functional Casino in the city that was to cater to the gambling needs of the rich and elite. The history of gambling continues but later on down the road corruption and crime began to mix with the sport and it became more of a problem for the governments of the world and there were moves to eradicate it. Yet some resisted and there was a change in strategy and it was thought to better legalize and hand out licenses to casinos rather than shelve gambling and force it to be taken up underground. Many states in America resisted this move and even in 1981 the New York legislature was not ready to authorize casinos to operate in the city (Thompson, xvii). The practice has also been on the rise not only in the United States but all over the world (Momper, Delva and Grogan-Kaylor, 7). Gambling itself is not taken to be a bad practice as many people do it. It is a particularly popular in Britain in the form of betting on race horses and even lotteries are a gamble of sorts (Padwa and Cunningham, 28). Yet it is when the gambling becomes addictive and a problem that it becomes dangerous and its link with crime then becomes all the stronger. In the United States of America’s congressional hearing it was stated by one gentleman that gambling attracts crime and terrorism in the sense that there are large amounts of cash involved which is not in any way being accounted for at a legal level (Congressional Hearing, 14302). This underground business is bound to cause some form of crime and terrorism among those who have a vested interest in the business and are attracted to large amounts of cash. Problem gambling is a concern as there may be gambler who begins to take the sport very seriously and end up betting and losing more in the game than they actually have leading to trouble. Pathological gamblers are addicted to it in a severe form and can experience conditions such as those of withdrawal when they don’t play for long periods of time. These individuals wreck their lives and those who are close to them with this addictive habit which can be put to par with drug addiction in situations. Though it was thought that it would be better to eradicate the business by many there has been a help of increasing the practice by those involved who have now even introduced online gambling. Online gambling makes it so much easier for people to play, anyone with a computer can simply log onto the various sites that offer gambling services and gamble away. There have been cases of people who have sat in front of computers for hours on end not only betting their money but also of that of their loved ones (Hörnle, 1). Internet gambling is harder to control in terms of security as it becomes harder to scrutinize all players online who are playing. It is even harder to try and keep them from playing as those who are at casinos can be stopped from playing when the casinos close while computers at home can’t afford one that flexibility. Those who are opponents of gambling on the whole argue that to build upon or even expand the gambling industry and the introduction of casino like business will help to increase crime on the street. Crime will become more rampant as people who are addicted to it will look to loot and steal money in any way possible to feed their addiction as they keep going back and back to take their chances and bet. Casinos have also been known to attract a large number of tourists as can be seen in Las Vegas and in New Orleans and these tourists then become the target of criminals who exploit them (Walker, 12). Critics of the business argue that gambling in any way legal or illegal would lead to crime increase. However, there have been no conclusive results that have found there to be a link between the two. Studies have held that there is not sufficient enough data to argue with complete surety that there is a solid link between crime rates in an area and gambling activities. If gambling is made to be legal then there would be an increase in the number of casinos and other businesses related to gambling which can be supervised and licensed. This increase in business will lead to an increase in employment and keep criminals off the street and thus a lesser crime rate. Virgil W. Peterson stated that gambling is the resource pot of the political underbelly and has contributed to serving even the corrupt politicians (Peterson, 260). In 1830 it was held that New York City was not only central to the United States in other forms but also as the centre of gambling businesses and it took only a few years for the word to spread and the city was thus the safe house of criminals. Gambling thus led to an increase in the crime rate and helped to build and feed the criminal activities as the gambling led to increase in money being traded. The victims in gambling are usually those who are caught into a web and this was the case in New York City as the public was robbed and plundered and cheated by the gambling organizations who over time had learned to be more and more efficient in cheating people out of their money. In a few cases some of the people who were robbed by the gamblers bought cases into courts but these were thrown out usually due to the political backing behind the gambling activities. In this way the illegal workings of gamblers in the city was being endorsed by the corrupt politicians who used the money coming in to finance their campaigns and further their causes. This political backing and individuals also helped to keep the industry safe from the judicial process. There was a study that was produced by Grinols and Mustards in 2006 that showed that there was actually a link between casino establishments and crimes (Grinols & Mustards, 2006). Many people argue that gambling does more of a social harm than anything else but on the other hand it helps to bring in revenue yet the stopping of the activity would impeach on the rights of people to do as they wish. No point in stopping someone from doing something as long as they keep the practice confined to themselves and don’t defrauds others in any way (Evans & Hance, 200). Letting some do as they wish will help to reduce crime. Crime related to casinos can be said to be of three categories. The first would relate to the irregularities in gambling. This is more or less the way owners cheat in the business to increase their chances of winning and indulge in fraud. This can be countered with the help of government supervision such as increased surveillance and a government agent in the casino to keep the crime in this phase to a low and protecting the players and customers. The second problem is again related to the large amounts of money coming into a casino. This makes it easier to launder money here and there. Again increased government supervision can lower the chances of the money laundering but this will stretch the agencies thin. Not a lot of members can be spared to observe the industry at a daily and constant basis. European casino industries are very strictly observed by the relevant authorities and thus it is hard to move large quantities of money here and there. Finally the link between crime and gambling related crime. This link is difficult to establish even though there have been a number of studies conducted to observe whether there is a correlation. The generalization that is made is that there is a relation (Coryn, Fijnaut & Littler, 41). CONCLUSION Crime and gambling of hand in hand and it is hard to separate one from the other and it is difficult to argue that gambling and other related services should be allowed and legalized. Legalizing the business may be a way of saying that it is ok to indulge the activity but then there is no way to stop the impending crime that would occur. People will commit crime to play and thieves will stay near the area to steal from the customers. From the petty individuals to the higher up politicians, anyone can get caught up in gambling and become addicted. The only difference is that the people on the lower end of the ladder are not able to get out of the situation that they drive themselves into. The politicians and those higher up the ladder are able to get some rules bent and coerce others to drop the charges. Gambling can and does grab hold of anyone and everyone and crime will result either way. Increasing crime resultant of gambling is another issue which, with the data available, cannot be ascertained. On the other hand the legalization of gambling will help to build a strong economic growth in an area where the business can be legalized and attract customers. Crime can be lowered, as some argue, with some stringent restrictions being put into place and crime that does result from the organizations can be looked over as long as the money being exchanged is of large amounts. Legalization will also help to deal with the public policy problem of people going behind the governments back to indulge in gambling. Increasing crime and gambling cannot be linked with sufficient strength and so it is not easy to deduce that gambling should be legalized or shot down. Hopefully with more studies and data there can be some study that will lead to conclusive results that will lead to helping solve the problem of increased crime. Bibliography "Congressional Record." Government Printing Office. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 2003. 14157-15591. Print. Earl L. Grinols, David B. Mustard. "Casinos, Crime, and Community Costs." The Review of Economics and Statistics (2006): 28-45. Herrmann, Denise Von. Resorting to casinos: the Mississippi gambling industry. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2006. Print. Hörnle, Julia. Cross-border Online Gambling Law and Policy . Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010. Print. Momper, Sandra L., et al. "The association of at-risk, problem, and pathological gambling with substance use, depression, and arrest history." Journal of Gambling Issues (2010): 7-32. Padwa, Howard and Jacob Cunningham. Addiction: A Reference Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, LLC: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2010. Print. Peterson, Virgil W. "Gambling. Should it be legalized?" Journal of Criminal law and Criminology (1949): 259-329. Rod L. Evans, Mark Hance. Legalized gambling: for and against. Illinois: Carus Publishing Company, 1998. Print. Thompson, William Norman. Gambling in America: an encyclopedia of history, issues, and society. California: ABC-CLIO Inc, 2001. Print. Tom Coryn, Cyrille Fijnaut, Alan Littler. Economic aspects of gambling regulation: EU and US perspectives. Netherland: Martinus Nijhoff, 2008. Print. Walker, Douglas M. The Economic Effects of Casino Gambling: A Perspective from the U.S. Paper. Charleston, SC: College of Charleston, 2009. Print. Read More