A gambling ship is the term for a ship stationed offshore in or transiting to

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

to evade local anti-gambling laws that is dedicated to

games of chance A game of chance is in contrast with a game of skill. It is a game whose outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device. Common devices used include dice, spinning tops, playing cards, roulette wheels, numbered balls, or in the case ...

. This applies both to ships which are permanently moored somewhere outside the limits, or, when legal, that can transit back and forth from a nearby port where it is not. Other ships also offer gambling as part of their onboard entertainment, but are not "gambling ships" ''per'' ''se''. Historically, international waters began just from land in many countries, popularly referred to as the "

three-mile limit The three-mile limit refers to a traditional and now largely obsolete conception of the international law of the seas which defined a country's territorial waters, for the purposes of trade regulation and exclusivity, as extending as far as the re ...

". Gambling ships, like

offshore radio Offshore radio is radio broadcasting from ships or fixed maritime structures. Offshore broadcasters are usually unlicensed but transmissions are legal in international waters. This is in contrast to unlicensed broadcasting on land or within a nat ...

stations, would usually be anchored just beyond it. The redefinition of territorial waters to 12

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude at t ...

s—approximately — in 1982 made maintaining a gambling ship much more uneconomic. In the United States, in addition to federal law, state statutes regulate the legality of gambling ships in their waters.

In California

The barge ''Monfalcone'' was purchased in 1928 by a group including Los Angeles crime family boss

Jack Dragna Jack Ignatius Dragna (born Ignazio Dragna, ; April 18, 1891 – February 23, 1956) was a Sicilian-American American Mafia, Mafia member, entrepreneur and Black Hand (extortion), Black Hander who was active in both Italy and the United States ...

and started offering gambling off the coast of Long Beach. The ship sank in 1930 after a fire. Also in 1928, the lumber schooner was converted to a gambling ship and moored off

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

. She caught fire and sank in 1932. On New Year's Day 1937, during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, gambling ship , well-known for "drinks, dice, and dolls," was wrecked on a beach about a quarter mile south of the Hotel del Coronado, near

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. Other gambling ships operating off California during the 1930s included ''Rose Isle'' (aka ''Johanna Smith II''), ''Casino'' (fka ''James Tuft''), ''SS Texas'' (aka ''City of Panama''; aka ''Star of Hollywood''; aka ''La Playa''), ''Showboat'' (aka ''Mount Baker''; aka ''Caliente''), ''SS Reno'' (operating off San Diego), and ''William H. Harriman'' (operating off Santa Barbara). Anthony Cornero operated the gambling ships SS ''Rex'' and SS ''Tango'' during the 1930s. California Attorney General

Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 30th governor of California from 1943 to 1953 and as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presid ...

ordered raids on the gambling ships. On August 1, 1939, state authorities raided SS ''Texas'' and SS ''Rex'' off

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

and ''Showboat'' and SS ''Tango'' off Long Beach. A court ruling later that year permanently shut them down. However, in 1946 Cornero opened the SS ''Lux'' off Long Beach. It was quickly shut down. In 1948, President

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

signed an act prohibiting the operation of any gambling ship in U.S. territorial waters.

In Hawaii

, Hawaii is one of only two U.S. states outlawing any form of gambling. Even though Hawaii has strict rules on its ports, a foreign flagged cruise ship that offers gambling aboard can dock if it travels in international watersMcDowell, E. (2001, May 6). Hawaii Still Resists Cruise Ship Gambling. New York Times. p.

/ref> and only conducts its gambling there.

In Hong Kong

The popularity of gambling ships increased in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

following the

anti-corruption campaign under Xi Jinping A far-reaching anti-corruption campaign began in China following the conclusion of the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2012. The campaign, carried out under the aegis of Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CCP, ...

which began in 2012, under which high-ranking government officials and executives at

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

s are barred from gambling in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. In 2011, the Immigration Department reported 466,000 tourists from

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

visited gambling ships, a 17.4% increase from 2010. Eight gambling ships were operating in Hong Kong during 2013, many of them operated by triad organized crime syndicates. These ships have been criticized for their use of misleading sales techniques and for their risk to public safety due to the difficulty of law enforcement against their operation.

Economics

The economics of gambling ships are quite different from traditional bricks-and-mortar casinos. Ships afloat are expensive to maintain. Transport of passengers to and from them is time-consuming, expensive, and largely "time lost" to those who wish to gamble. Further, entertainment - and alternative gambling - opportunities are severely limited for potential customers, who can see and do more ashore where gambling is legal, as in Las Vegas and Atlantic City in the United States. This is only compounded when the offshore gambling trip is turned into an overnight stay.Onishi, N. (1998, May 5). Gambling ship stops operating overnight cruises. New York Times. p. B1

/ref>

Economies of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of Productivity, output produced per unit of cost (production cost). A decrease in ...

make it hard for smaller companies to compete with larger ones such as Carnival Corps and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.De Lisser, E. (1995, November 24). Forecast for cruise industry is stormy, and some of the smaller fleets may sink. Wall Street Journal – Eastern Edition. p. B1. One of the factors is that the bigger companies can afford to make newer and bigger ships. Newer ships could already hold up to 4,400 passengers and crew in 1995. Further, the newer ships are safer, and older ships that are not equipped with the new

International Maritime Organization The International Maritime Organization (IMO; ; ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating maritime transport. The IMO was established following agreement at a ...

(IMO) safety standards have to be upgraded to meet them. According to an Oppenheimer & Co. analyst, this suggested at the time that the industry would end up ruled by two to three big companies.

In popular culture

Californian gambling ships appear in several novels and movies of the period, including ''Sing a Song of Murder'' (1942) by James R. Langham, ''The Case of the Dangerous Dowager'' (1937) by Erle Stanley Gardner, and '' Farewell, My Lovely'' (1940) by

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

. The 1940 film " Gambling on the High Seas" was set in part aboard a gambling ship, SS ''Sylvania''. Other films that feature gambling ships include ''

Gambling Ship A gambling ship is the term for a ship stationed offshore in or transiting to international waters to evade local anti-gambling laws that is dedicated to games of chance. This applies both to ships which are permanently moored somewhere outside ...

'', ''Dante's Inferno'', '' Smashing the Money Ring'', and '' Mr. Lucky'' (1943) starring

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English and American actor. Known for his blended British and American accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he ...

as a gambling ship operator, which spawned the later '' Mr. Lucky'' TV series.

References