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In an article from 2004, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the efforts of the National Football League to protect its Super Bowl copyright in a number of big casinos. The NFL sought out and warned casinos and resorts against holding Super Bowl parties that violated copyright law by either charging a fee to watch the game, or by displaying the game on screens larger than 55 inches.
In addition, the NFL not only pursued action against venues in Las Vegas, but also many in New England and North Carolina, the hometowns to the two teams that were competing in the year’s championship.
According to the article, the NFL argued that by violating the NFL’s copyright over the Super Bowl and unfairly charging people to view the game, these venues were hurting ratings by not capturing these viewers. In turn, this hurt advertisers and thus hurt the NFL’s overall monetary gain.
In response to the NFL’s action, some of the venues cancelled their events, while others refunded charges and installed smaller screened televisions to display the game.
The importance of this article highlights the fact that the National Football League has not only pursued action against large churches, but food and drinking establishments as well. Here, the NFL spokesperson argues that the league pursues action against those establishments who violate copyright law based on the venue’s size, and their compliance with audio and visual requirements, such as the size of the screens displaying the Super Bowl. Moreover, the NFL pursues action against both food and drinking establishment and non-food and drinking establishments, and therefore does so to protect their copyright as laid out in the U.S. legal code, not to prevent one type of establishment from transmitting the Super Bowl to the public over another.
In the article, “Denunciation and the Illusion of Social Control: The Case of the Nevada Black Book,” authors Carole Case and Ronald A. Farrell discuss the exclusion of organized crime figures from the gambling industry in Nevada. These individuals’ names are written in a black book and remain there forever, thus insuring that they are excluded from the gaming industry.
Based on previous fears in the mid 1950s on congressional hearings and the results from the President’s Task force against organized crime in 1967, those that were put into the black book were ones who had the mafia stigma associated with them, which tended to be Italians.
By the mid 1940s, in the post World War II era, Las Vegas was undergoing immense economic growth, and gambling played a critical part in this. In the early 1950s, hearings were held expressing concern over the involvement of the Mafia. This led to concern directed towards Italian Americans. In the end, there was a disproportionate amount of Italians on the black book. The black book’s purpose was to provide security to the public in believing in a clean and lawful gaming system, however based on social stereotypes, a large number of names that appeared on this black book were Italian.
The fear of Italian Americans involved in the gaming industry leads to an increased amount of depth of the movie. The movie is able to play off of current events of the period in order to add strength to the movie. The movie plays off of many of society’s stereotypes in order to convey subtle messages.
by Joanne Aitken, Harris Steinberg, and Elise Vider
The Next American City
PHILADELPHIA: Gambling on Philadelphia's Future: Can Casinos Fit into a Big City Downtown?
by Joanne Aitken, Harris Steinberg, and Elise Vider
In the article, “Denunciation and the Illusion of Social Control: The Case of the Nevada Black Book,” authors Carole Case and Ronald A. Farrell discuss the exclusion of organized crime figures from the gambling industry in Nevada. These individuals’ names are written in a black book and remain there forever, thus insuring that they are excluded from the gaming industry.
Based on previous fears in the mid 1950s on congressional hearings and the results from the President’s Task force against organized crime in 1967, those that were put into the black book were ones who had the mafia stigma associated with them, which tended to be Italians.
By the mid 1940s, in the post World War II era, Las Vegas was undergoing immense economic growth, and gambling played a critical part in this. In the early 1950s, hearings were held expressing concern over the involvement of the Mafia. This led to concern directed towards Italian Americans. In the end, there was a disproportionate amount of Italians on the black book. The black book’s purpose was to provide security to the public in believing in a clean and lawful gaming system, however based on social stereotypes, a large number of names that appeared on this black book were Italian.
The fear of Italian Americans involved in the gaming industry leads to an increased amount of depth of the movie. The movie is able to play off of current events of the period in order to add strength to the movie. The movie plays off of many of society’s stereotypes in order to convey subtle messages.