Casino gaming has become one of the most highly regulated industries
in America. The companies and individuals involved are very carefully
scrutinized and held to extremely high standards. The organized crime
scare is simply that, a scare according to many observers. Gambling
is indeed associated with crime, specifically political corruption.
The casino companies suggest that they are devoid of organized
crime influence because they are:
- Dominated by publicly-held companies, many with household names
like Hilton and Sheraton.
- Answerable to their shareholders who are thousands of individuals
and institutional investors.
- Answerable to the Securities Exchange Commission.
- Indistinguishable from any other business with accountants, attorneys,
payroll specialists, auditors, and market researchers.
- Licensed and tightly-regulated by state governments.
Nevertheless, there remains an ever present concern about organized
crime. The sheer volume of money, cash in particular, that is generated
by gambling, makes it a tempting target. Organized crime has been
successful infiltrating ancillary businesses such as machine maintenance
or those that provide other services. Often labor unions are used
as the vehicle to carry out the infiltration. There are examples of
organized crime infiltration. For example, as discussed in the section
on gambling and politics, the FBI is investigating allegations that
Louisiana state legislators took multimillion dollar payoffs to approve
an expansion of video poker. The individuals attempting to buy influence
were connected to organized crime families.
Researchers state that organized crime is more of a product of
illegal or poorly regulated gambling than well-regulated gambling.
That is especially worrisome because gambling isn't just done within
the large casinos. There are many other gambling opportunities and
not all are as well-regulated or as free of organized crime influence
as casinos. In California, card rooms and Indian casinos have been
a focus of concern about criminal infiltration.
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