Whenever you think of gambling, among all the images of shiny lights and people winning big, there can be images of crime. People playing illegal games in smoky back rooms, lives being gambled instead of cash, and a house that will do anything to win. These images aren’t bad, because various gangs and crime families had a massive monopoly on gambling and casinos. Thankfully this has gone down quite a bit, as gangs were pretty prevalent in the 1930s, but not anymore. Instead you can find plenty of safe and legal casinos at casinoforcanada.com.
Now the gangs of the past kept an iron fist on the casinos in their territory. For good reason too, because casinos control a lot of money and having your hand on where that money goes and who it goes too is always valuable. While the dark side of gambling isn’t around, and shouldn’t be in your mind whenever you step into a casino, here’s what you need to know about the darker side of gambling, and what’s underneath all those pretty lights.
Money Laundering
It seems like money laundering is one of the things that many people know about today, given that it is the prime crime for white collar business people both in real life and on TV. But it really started back during Prohibition. Because whenever alcohol became illegal in the United States, society still had people who were willing to do anything for a drink, and the gangs stepped in to give it to them.
Gangsters and criminals began using the money that they got from various illegal activities, including gambling, in money laundering schemes. However, they couldn’t spend all this ‘dirty money’ from their criminal activities as it was, because the police would instantly catch on and start asking questions. The money would need to be ‘cleaned’ or laundered, in order for it to be used without attracting any suspicion.
This was where casinos came in, because the money needed to be moved around and it needed to be moved around in large amounts. What criminals would do is they would go to a casino, use the dirty money to buy a bunch of casino chips, and then play for a while. Once the games were over, they would withdraw the money and claim they had received such a large sum by winning it from other players.
Because casinos had such a large amount of money flowing in and flowing out of them, criminals could easily mask their dirty money within the casino, and move it around enough so it would come out clean.
Now in the present day, there are plenty of eyes watching every dollar spent in person and online, so money laundering is much harder to do.
Gang Ownership And Bankrolling Of Casinos
During Prohibition, the Mafia was the one who owned most of the underground casinos and saloons, and they continued to be in charge whenever Las Vegas made the casinos go straight. Because casinos made so much money, many gang leaders such as Bugsy Siegel, would finance the construction of casinos (using the unions that they owned). Then they would rake in profits the entire way through.
Soon Las Vegas became a gambling hotspot (a term coined by Bugsy), and gangs swarmed the city in large numbers. Pretty soon they owned all of the casinos and were able to keep on raking in the profits, as well as use the casinos for money laundering and various other crimes. Plus, since they were in control, they could present to the law that all the money they owned was from owning and operating the casino, and they could sweep their criminal activities under the rug.
What About Today?
While the 21st century doesn’t need to deal with organized mobs having gunfights in the streets and keeping a stranglehold on the city, most organized crime in Las Vegas has been stamped out by the FBI and all of the casinos are legitimate and fair businesses. However, there are other organized crime groups that still see the value in using casinos for illegal deeds.
However, aside from gambling addicts committing smaller crimes to feed their addictions, crime has gone down because of the relentless improvement of techniques to monitor crime as it happens and to prevent large scale gangs from forming.
Las Vegas, gambling, and crime all have a rich past with one another, and it is important to understand the role that criminals played in building one of the best places on earth.
