Dream vs Reality: Casino Gambling - Essay Example

Since the early 1970s proposals for the legalization of gambling have been forwarded by state legislators as a strategy for increasing state revenues and controlling the industry itself.  As the 1976 Commission on the Review of National Policy toward Gambling stated, “Gambling is inevitable.  No matter what is said or done by advocates or opponents of gambling in all its various forms, it is an activity that is practiced, or tacitly endorsed, by a substantial majority of Americans.” This statement, as have been proposals for legalization, has been ignored.  These proposals have been rejected and, to date, casino gambling is only legal in a handful of states.

Legal prohibitions against gambling have contributed to the emergence of an underground, illegal gambling sector that is not only flourishing but, continually expanding. Estimates place the total gambles illegally wagered over the past year at $48 billion. Apart from this meaning that states are losing an important, and major, source of revenues, there is a more disturbing implication. Within the parameters of an underground, black market gambling industry, the activity is unsupervised with the consequence being the participation of underage youth and the proliferation of no-limits gambling which both sustain gambling addictions and often lead to financial ruin.

Through the legalization of gambling, implying the movement of an underground activity to the open, not only will states benefit from a wealthy source of revenue but the supervision of the activity by law enforcement will lead to stricter adherence to both age and gambling limits.