Victimless crimes: definitions and legal implications

¶ … people believe it is a victimless crime, it actually has many victims. There were four sources used to complete this paper.

Gambling and its Victims

For many people placing a small bet on Sunday's football game provides them with a source of entertainment and something to joke about at the water cooler on Monday and it is because of such minor activities it is argued that gambling is a victimless crime (Villa, 2000). While this activity may not victimize anyone but the person that loses the $10, gambling is far from victimless and should remain an illegal activity.

Gambling victims come in all shapes and sizes. It knows no socioeconomic boundaries and it rarely leaves once it has taken hold of someone's life. Studies conducted to determine the impact of gambling on society indicate 35% of college students gamble on school sports, with five percent of those males actually wagering on games they were participants in. Furthermore they provided inside information to others to try and boost the winnings and odds (Minnix, 2000).

Another important research finding reveals that more youth are introduced to gambling through sports betting than through any other type of activity, according to Dr. Howard Shaffer, director of Harvard University Medical School's Division on Addiction (Minnix, 2000)."

Currently there are more than 1,000 gambling sites on the Internet. Internet gambling provides a specific threat to the public as it can be done privately with no supervision and no fear of exposing one's gambling addiction to loved ones (Minnix, 2000).

People who become addicted to gambling often leave a long list of victims in their wake. When they empty bank accounts to gamble, their families are hurt, their bills do not get paid and because they are addicted they often resort to stealing, kiting checks and spending money they don't have to gamble (Hebrerling, 2002).

In addition the more poor the gambler is the more he spends on gambling according to recent studies.

Given the demographic attributes of the "typical" player, it should come as no surprise that lottery advertisements specifically target the poor (Hebrerling, 2002)."

Gambling sites and promotions are written in a way to make people dream that their circumstances can change if they can just get that one win.

Some examples include:

All you need is a dollar and a dream (Hebrerling, 2002)." (New York)

This could be your ticket out (Hebrerling, 2002)." (Illinois)

If one wants to verify the dangers of gambling one only needs to look at the statistics stating Las Vegas has one of the highest crime rates in the nation. People are desperate to get their win, they have lost everything and still believe that magic hand or slot is right around the corner and resort to robbing, stealing, fraud and other means to obtain gambling funds (Nauman, 2006).

Gambling is illegal in most areas of the nation. Law enforcement is charged with arresting those that break the law. In states across the nation gambling rings have been broken up and slot machines, video poker machines and roulette tables have been seized. The place for law enforcement with regard to gambling is to crack down on it and not turn a blind eye when they are aware that is going on. The children who do not have food or clothing because of parent gambling issues often have no one to depend on without the law stepping in and helping to break that cycle.

Recently police in Massachusetts were questioned as to why they are aware there are gambling operations in their jurisdiction and they are not being closed down. One officer summed it up.

We have a lot more important things to spend our time on," said Bloomington Police spokesman Duane Moss. "We're only going to look into (gambling) if we get a complaint, and that happens so rarely (Nauman, 2006)."