By Marisa Lankester
Working as a bookmaker for the mastermind of illegal sports gambling, Ron “The Cigar” Sacco, I’ve seen it all.
I began clerking for Sacco in Los Angeles in 1986, when his organization was taking in a meager $40 million a year in bets. Raids on his offices in the United States eventually prompted Sacco to relocate offshore to the Dominican Republic, where gambling is legal. The feds were not deterred and Sacco was captured in 1993. By then his business was generating an estimated $1 billion a year in bets.
Fast-forward two decades: U.S. News and World Report estimated that $380 billion was bet illegally in 2013. Others put the figure closer to $500 billion. Law enforcement has been going after bookmakers since 1961, when the Federal Wire Act decreed gambling illegal. Yet innumerable arrests, fines, prison terms and the confiscation of assets have done nothing to deter Americans from gambling or bookmakers from taking their bets.
There are plenty of bookmakers running clean operations offshore. Sacco was one of them. His players knew that they would get paid if they won and that earned Sacco legions of loyal customers.
Gov. Chris Christie recently pushed to legalize sports betting in New Jersey. He’s fighting to inject the estimated $100 million worth of taxable proceeds per year into his state instead of sitting idly by while all that money disappears. Most bookmakers want to see gambling legalized and regulated, just as it is in many countries around the world. And if New Jersey wins, other states may demand the same rights.
Ironically, many professional sports organizations — the NCAA being the most staunchly opposed — stand against legalizing sports betting. These same organizations that depend on people watching and being involved with sports claim that legalizing gambling will affect the integrity of the games. If this is true, then shouldn’t sports organizations protest the media’s actively discussing, debating and advertising the point spreads?
The American government needs to acknowledge it has no control over an activity that is impossible to enforce.
That information is broadcast solely for the benefit of gamblers who need it in order to place their bets. Gambling has become the most condoned, enticed illegal activity in the country, thanks largely to these sports organizations.
Labeling gambling as legal or illegal will also have little effect on game-fixing or mob involvement, two other concerns voiced by all sports organizations. Bookmakers generally want nothing to do with game-fixing because it’s bad for business. Games are swiftly taken “off the boards” if a game is suspect, and Las Vegas is usually the first to report irregularities. It would be harder, not easier, to “fix” a game if gambling was legalized.
The only organization that has a legitimate reason to oppose legalized gambling is the mob. They stand to lose a cut of their business. As long as there are degenerate gamblers, the mob will be around to take their action. The majority of the population, however, will welcome decriminalizing the activity.
Sacco received the longest prison sentence handed out to a bookmaker. While he was serving time, Costa Rican International Sports was founded, by his employees. Most of my former colleagues are still in the business, working offshore somewhere, despite arrests and prison stints.
Being arrested three times in the United States and charged with illegal gambling did not stop me from bookmaking. Nor did it deter me from moving offshore to take bets. People have been gambling since the beginning of mankind and they are going to continue to do so in ever increasing numbers.
The American government needs to acknowledge it has no control over an activity that is impossible to enforce. It’s time to legalize gambling. Regulate it, tax it and put the proceeds toward education, transportation, culture and health care — areas the U.S. government desperately needs to fund.
Working as a bookmaker for the mastermind of illegal sports gambling, Ron “The Cigar” Sacco, I’ve seen it all.
I began clerking for Sacco in Los Angeles in 1986, when his organization was taking in a meager $40 million a year in bets. Raids on his offices in the United States eventually prompted Sacco to relocate offshore to the Dominican Republic, where gambling is legal. The feds were not deterred and Sacco was captured in 1993. By then his business was generating an estimated $1 billion a year in bets.
Fast-forward two decades: U.S. News and World Report estimated that $380 billion was bet illegally in 2013. Others put the figure closer to $500 billion. Law enforcement has been going after bookmakers since 1961, when the Federal Wire Act decreed gambling illegal. Yet innumerable arrests, fines, prison terms and the confiscation of assets have done nothing to deter Americans from gambling or bookmakers from taking their bets.
There are plenty of bookmakers running clean operations offshore. Sacco was one of them. His players knew that they would get paid if they won and that earned Sacco legions of loyal customers.
Gov. Chris Christie recently pushed to legalize sports betting in New Jersey. He’s fighting to inject the estimated $100 million worth of taxable proceeds per year into his state instead of sitting idly by while all that money disappears. Most bookmakers want to see gambling legalized and regulated, just as it is in many countries around the world. And if New Jersey wins, other states may demand the same rights.
Ironically, many professional sports organizations — the NCAA being the most staunchly opposed — stand against legalizing sports betting. These same organizations that depend on people watching and being involved with sports claim that legalizing gambling will affect the integrity of the games. If this is true, then shouldn’t sports organizations protest the media’s actively discussing, debating and advertising the point spreads?
The American government needs to acknowledge it has no control over an activity that is impossible to enforce.
That information is broadcast solely for the benefit of gamblers who need it in order to place their bets. Gambling has become the most condoned, enticed illegal activity in the country, thanks largely to these sports organizations.
Labeling gambling as legal or illegal will also have little effect on game-fixing or mob involvement, two other concerns voiced by all sports organizations. Bookmakers generally want nothing to do with game-fixing because it’s bad for business. Games are swiftly taken “off the boards” if a game is suspect, and Las Vegas is usually the first to report irregularities. It would be harder, not easier, to “fix” a game if gambling was legalized.
The only organization that has a legitimate reason to oppose legalized gambling is the mob. They stand to lose a cut of their business. As long as there are degenerate gamblers, the mob will be around to take their action. The majority of the population, however, will welcome decriminalizing the activity.
Sacco received the longest prison sentence handed out to a bookmaker. While he was serving time, Costa Rican International Sports was founded, by his employees. Most of my former colleagues are still in the business, working offshore somewhere, despite arrests and prison stints.
Being arrested three times in the United States and charged with illegal gambling did not stop me from bookmaking. Nor did it deter me from moving offshore to take bets. People have been gambling since the beginning of mankind and they are going to continue to do so in ever increasing numbers.
The American government needs to acknowledge it has no control over an activity that is impossible to enforce. It’s time to legalize gambling. Regulate it, tax it and put the proceeds toward education, transportation, culture and health care — areas the U.S. government desperately needs to fund.
