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Nassau County DA Asserts Sports Gambling Not Victimless Crime
NEW YORK, NEW YORK --
Nassau County authorities announced this week they had arrested twelve men for involvement in a sports gambling ring. Detectives allege that the leaders of the Queens, New York group, brothers Stephen and Daniel Rozich, have been acting as bookies for better than twenty-five years. The police estimated the gang made as much as $30 million over the last five years.
While many in the community feel that sports wagering is a commonplace activity that doesn't really harm anyone, Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice argued that that is a misconception. "Gambling on sports is not a victimless crime. The multi-million dollar profits these operations take in are not generally spent on tuition bills or charitable giving. These profits are often the lifeblood of something more sinister."
The reasoning here seems to be that sports gambling sometimes takes proximity to other, more dangerous crimes. Of course, even if sports betting were legal, police would still have authority to stop any other crime. Plus, this thinking is like arguing that banks should be outlawed because robberies often happen there.
Sociologist Phil Tomlinson says, "Over four out of five men have bet on a sporting event in their lives, and over half have bet with a bookie at least once. Pursuing sports gamblers as criminals merely contributes to the rise of a scofflaw society."
Then Rice revealed the true reason politicians prefer to crack down on gambling, whether it be sports betting with a bookie, online gaming, or backroom poker games. "In addition to breaking the law, gambling rings cheat the tax system and skirt the rules we are all forced to live by."
As usual, the government really only cares about getting its cut. Like any good protection racket, authorities will leave a game paying them (in the form of taxes) alone, but make life hard for those who don't.
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