A gambling ship was a barge or other large vessel used to house a casino and often other venues of entertainment. Under the old three-mile limit of territorial waters they were anchored usually just over three nautical miles off the United States coastline to avoid governmental interference. Organized crime was frequently involved in their operation.
Some state governments later tried to control the effect of gambling ships through the use of convoluted statutes. When territorial waters were redefined to 12 nm, this made the prospect of maintaining a gambling ship by any means extremely impractical.
Read more about Gambling Ship: Gambling Ships in California
Famous quotes containing the words gambling and/or ship:
“At the gambling table, there are no fathers and sons.”
—Chinese proverb.
“There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: the way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.”
—Bible: Hebrew Proverbs, 30:18-19.
From the oracle of Agur, son of Jakeh.