Gambling and the Law: A Study of the Utility of Gambling and Its Prohibition in an American Chinatown

Legal moralisms, such as gambling prohibitions, have long been established in American law. This dissertation explored in general, the rational and utility of gambling prohibitions, as well as their application in an ethnic community. In an overview of gambling in the United States, the development of and politics underlying gambling laws and the claims and documentation of harms from gambling were examined. Some positive functions of gambling, such as to provide recreation, the achievement of status and social integration, were delineated. A review of the costs, effect, and feasibilities of gambling enforcement was undertaken and concluded that public tolerance, the pervasiveness of the games, and the perception of harmlessness have undermined the implementation of the law. Furthermore, threats to legal protections, the creation of adverse public attitudes toward the law, and the provision of lucrative profits for syndicates, with which they use for public corruption, culminate to suggest that the costs of gambling laws are not commensurate with the good effects derived. Alternatives to the use of the criminal law to control gambling were recommended.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Kagawa, Lily Siu

• Sociology, Criminology and Penology

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8324584

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/70997