History of Gambling

HISTORY OF GAMBLING IN AMERICA:

1624 The Virginia Assembly decreed: "Mynisters shall not give themselves to excesse in drinking or yett spend their tyme idelie by day or night, playing at dice, cards or any unlawful game.".

1656 Card fiends in the Plymouth Colony were fined forty shillings (two pounds in 1661).[1]

1748 Benjamin Franklin helped organize a Pennsylvania lottery "to raise three thousand pounds for military supplies to defend Philadelphia against Frenchmen and Indians."

1765 The Stamp Act places a tax "upon every pack of playing cards and all dice... the sum of 1 shilling..."

1776 Congress organized a lottery of $5 million to rally a kitty for the war. [1]

1777 President Washington issued an order forbidding "all officers... and soldiers... playing at cards, or other games of chance... at this time of public distress men must find enough to do, in service of their God and their country, without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality." "...the commander in chief... forbids all officers and soldiers playing at cards, dice or any games except those of EXERCISE for diversion." [1]

1774-89 The Continental Congress issued orders to stop "extravagance and dissipation, horse racing, and all kinds of gaming or cock fighting."

1963 No state had a lottery. Only Nevada permitted casinos, though many states allowed betting on horse or dog races.

1975 The federal government allowed state lotteries to advertise on television and radio

1976 A national commission found 0.77% (1.1 million) of American adults were pathological gamblers.

1980 Commercial gambling casinos prohibited in every state except Nevada. Only 13 states had lotteries. Americans spent $17 billion on legal commercial gambling.

1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruled Native Americans could offer legal gambling games on reservations, without state regulation, if permitted anywhere in the state, in any form. (California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians).

1988 Congress enacted Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to create orderly process for growth of Native American gambling establishments.

1976-1988 Casinos legalized in Atlantic City. The number of state lotteries doubled.

1989-1994 21 new states legalized gambling casinos legalized. 10 states authorize slot or video poker machines at racetracks, bars.

1995 A study found 5.4% of Iowa's adults (110,000 residents) were lifetime pathological or problem gamblers - up from 1.7% before riverboats came to the state in 1991. Americans spent $550 billion on legal gambling in 1995 (a 3,200% increase in 20 years!)

1996 President Clinton signed H.R. 497, the National Gambling Impact & Policy Commission Act to investigate gambling in America. Only Hawaii and Utah prohibited all forms of gambling. 37 states and D.C. run state lotteries. 28 states allow casinos. Gamblers legally bet over $586 billion annually.

1998 Over 40 riverboat casinos in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa. Nearly 50 riverboat and dockside casinos in Louisiana and Mississippi. Approximately 298 Indian casinos and bingo halls were operating in 31 states - up from 70 in 16 states in 1988. 48 states have legalized some form of gambling - lotteries, casinos, riverboat casinos, Indian casinos, video lottery machines, pari-mutuel betting (horse racing, dog racing, jai-alai).

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