Cutting The Wire: Gaming Prohibition And The Internet

Preface

preface My first book, Suburban Xanadu: The Casino Resort on the Las Vegas Strip and Beyond , grew out of my doctoral dissertation in U.S. history at ucla. Since I grew up with the casino industry in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the history of casinos was a rather obvious topic for my dissertation. To tell a story about that world and help people better understand the place of casinos in American society just came naturally. Where to go from there? The explosion of Internet gaming, I thought, was just as shrouded in mystery as the origins of casinos. The current American irresolution over Internet gaming provided the impetus for this book. With a better understanding of the past, both sides of the current debate might be more thoughtfully conducted. I think that history has great lessons for both those who are in the business of gaming and those who oppose gaming expansion — and certainly for those charged with creating and enforcing the laws that deal with gaming. This book begins with an introduction, followed by seven chapters and an epilogue. The introduction, “Kennedy’s War Continues,” discusses how the Wire Act symbolizes the uneasy American pursuit of gaming and gives a brief introduction to the act. The first chapter, “Legal Vices and Illicit Diversions ,” sums up the history of legal and illegal American gaming, describes the long connections between gaming and technology, and explains the development of the race wire service. Chapter 2, “The Anxious Decade,” describestheharriedinvestigationsintoorganizedcrimeofthe1950s .Therevelations brought to light by these investigations convinced Americans that they faced a profoundly powerful “enemy within”—organized crime—and that a favored pastime, gaming, directly funded this enemy. With the first two chapters setting the stage, the third chapter, “Camelot Strikes Back,” provides an in-depth look at the circumstances attending the birth of the Wire Act. The act was part of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ’s larger initiative to “get organized crime,” and it is necessary to see it in ix x preface that light. I also gauge public reaction to the act and describe its immediate impact. Chapter 4, “Booking the Bookies,” traces the legacy of the Wire Act over the next three decades. In chapter 5, “A Money Jungle From Sea to Sea,” I explore the growth of gaming in the last quarter of the twentieth century, culminating in the introduction of Internet gaming. This provides the context for better understanding the development of online gaming in the 1990s, a subject covered in chapter 6, “Point, Click, and Bet.” Chapter 7, “March Madness,” focuses on two court cases involving the Wire Act: the successful prosecution of Jay Cohen and Antigua’s resulting challenge of U.S. enforcement actions before the World Trade Organization. Finally, in the epilogue, “Prohibition in a Borderless America,” I offer my own thoughts on the track record of Americans in chasing gaming and the place of the Internet in American life. Dozens of people helped me with the writing of this book. I’m sure I’ll neglect to mention many of them, but here are those whose contributions are particularly fresh in my mind. Joanne O’Hare at the University of Nevada Press saved the day when I had almost given up on seeing this book published at all. A note for any struggling author—when in doubt, stick to your convictions, and someone will see the value of your work. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, boasts the world’s leading gaming collection, so even if I didn’t work there, I would have spent a great deal of time there. Everyone at unlv Special Collections—Peter Michel, Su Kim Chung, Jonnie Kennedy, Joyce Marshall, Kathy War, Claytee White, and the helpful student staff—doubled as coworkers and people who helped me with the research. Also within unlv Libraries, Dean Kenneth Marks, Lee Scroggins, Vicki Nozero, Chris Wiatroski, Susie Skarl, Tim Skeers, and Nancy Master all helped in various ways. Hal Rothman, chair of the Department of History, gave me much-appreciated opportunities to teach and some significant inspiration. Petula Iu read parts of the draft manuscript and gave me excellent ideas for revision. At the Library of Congress, everyone at the Main Reading Room in the Jefferson Building, the Law Library, and the Special Collections Room deserves thanks, as do the helpful staff of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration: Archives II, College Park, Research Room of Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Recording, part of the Special Media...