The purpose of this dissertation is to uncover and record the history of gambling and its accompanying vices in Northern Kentucky during the period 1790-2000. The treatment begins with a general overview of the existence of gambling and corruption in the region from the town's founding, identifying the key characteristics that established Northern Kentucky as regional vice center. It then details the ways in which gambling developed through the years from loosely organized, locally-run gaming halls into well-funded and strategically managed branches of nationally syndicated crime organizations. In its final chapters, this history describes the fantastic series of events that effectively drove large-scale gambling operations from the area in the 1960s and then evaluates the aftermath of that reform effort at the turn of the century. By examining private papers, in addition to news reports, oral interviews, leading reform organizations' literature and meeting minutes, police reports, court cases and governmental reports on crime, the dissertation provides the first complete academic assessment of the region's much-fabled history of vice and gambling. As Northern Kentucky citizens seek in the 21st century to reinvent themselves socially and economically, their history could serve to inform current debates regarding the moral, social and economic impact of both illicit and legalized gambling.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TCU/oai:etd.tcu.edu:etd-04302009-115139 |
| Date | 30 April 2009 |
| Creators | Royer, Jennifer Baugh |
| Contributors | Clayton Brown |
| Publisher | Texas Christian University |
| Source Sets | Texas Christian University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/msword |
| Source | http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-04302009-115139/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to TCU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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