Creating legal versus illegal gambling businesses: How proper government regulation makes a difference

Abstract

Casino gambling has been introduced in the United States to revive local economies by providing a desired activity without raising taxes on individuals. An important question is how to minimize the potential deleterious effects of legalized gambling while maximizing its economic benefits. From a criminological and economic perspective, central questions include the following: (1) to what extent legalized casino gambling has impacted rates of pathological gambling, (2) what its impact is on crime rates, (3) to what extent organized crime has infiltrated legal gambling, and (4) what the best methods are to protect legal gambling from illegal activity. This analysis examines what is known about these impacts, and it reviews methods to maximize the positive impacts of casino gambling while minimizing its negative social and economic impacts.