Gambling in the United States

Gambling is legally restricted in the United States, but its availability and participation is increasing. In 2008, gambling activities generated gross revenues (the difference between the total amounts wagered minus the funds or "winnings" returned to the players) of $92.27 billion in the United States. Commercial casinos provided 354,000 jobs, and state and local tax revenues of $5.2 billion as of 2006^[update]. Critics of gambling argue it leads to increased political corruption, compulsive gambling and higher crime rates. Others argue that gambling is a type of regressive tax on the individuals in local economies where gambling venues are located.

According to the American Gaming Association, legal gambling revenues for 2007 were as follows:

Grand Total - $92.27 billion

Games of chance came to the British American colonies with the first settlers. Attitudes on gambling varied greatly from community to community, but there were no large-scale restrictions on the practice. Early on, the British colonies used lotteries from time to time to help raise revenue. For example, lotteries were used to establish or improve dozens of universities and hundreds of secondary schools during the 18th and 19th centuries. A 1769 restriction on lotteries by the British crown became one of many issues which fueled tensions between the Colonies and Britain prior to the American Revolution.

Lotteries continued to be used at the state and federal level in the early United States. Gambling businesses slowly developed in various communities. The lower Mississippi River valley became a hotbed of gambling activity with New Orleans emerging as the nation's leading gambling center. A wave of hostility against gambling in the mid 19th century pushed gambling activity onto boats in the Mississippi River and toward younger territories in the West. Anti-gambling forces in the northeast put an end to lotteries in those locations and this trend spread to some other parts of the country. The rise of railroads caused passenger travel on the Mississippi to decline, heavily damaging the riverboat casinos' revenue. The increasing legal pressures on gambling gradually created opportunities for illegal operations.

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