ABSTRACT
In 1975, casino gambling was a relatively marginalized consumption practice in the United States. Casinos were legal in only one state, and the industry took in about $800 million dollars per year (United States Commission on the Review of the National Policy Toward Gambling 1976). Now, in 2006, casino gambling is legal in 28 states in the US and annually grosses over 30 billion dollars (American Gaming Association 2006). The practice is also represented in mainstream popular culture through TV shows like Celebrity Poker Showdown and franchises like the World Series of Poker. In 1996, annual casino visits roughly equaled visits to theme parks in the US (Harrah’s Annual Report 1996). As the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (1999) reports,
[s]ince the mid-1970’s, America has evolved from a country in which gambling was a relatively rare activity – casinos operating only in the distant Nevada desert, a few states operating lotteries, and a pari-mutuel gambling relatively small scale and sedate – into a nation in which legalized gambling, in one form or another, is permitted in 47 states and the District of Columbia.
