Legal Sports Betting Won't Hurt Mob, Say Ex-Gangsters Alite, Lutz

The ongoing debate over whether New Jersey should legalize sports betting must be getting hot.

As Steven Stradbrooke notes on CalvinAyre.com, "Nevada’s sportsbooks just had their best football season ever, so is it any wonder New Jersey wants in on the action? Nevada’s $111.5 million in sports betting revenue would have come in especially handy earlier this week, when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was forced to lower his online gambling annual tax revenue projections by $126 million."

60 Minutes for Showtime is devoting a segment to the tangential question of whether such a move would impact illegal gambling -- or as John Brennan writing for NothJersey.com, describes it, the "considerable illegal bookie industry in the state."

"60 Minutes Sports" is running a segment tomorrow night (Wednesday, March 5, at 9 p.m.) to juice-up the debate by including the viewpoints of a couple of mob turncoats who once worked as bookies.

John Alite and Angelo Lutz, both of whom support legalized sports gambling in New Jersey, appear on the show (see above for a quick preview).

Lutz and Alite inform correspondent Jack Ford that legal sports betting parlors won’t put the mob out of business, not by a long-shot.

Lutz, formerly known as “Fat Ang,” now runs the Kitchen Consiglieri, a Mafia-themed restaurant.

Legalized gambling won't hurt the mob "because the guy who has no money in his pocket and is betting on the come is still gonna call the local bookmaker to bet. Because he could bet with no money," says Lutz.

Ford, with a straight face (who is the guy advocating for here?), asks, "But won't the illegal bookmakers lose some of their business?"

“Yes. But who cares? [Illegal bookies will lose the] casual bettor," Lutz says. “[The mob] wants the degenerate gamblers to bet with [them]. You’re not looking for John and Nancy Adams to walk in and order champagne cocktails and pomegranate martinis…that ain’t where you draw your money from," he says.

Alite, described as if he's a D.C.-based gambling lobbyist, loves the idea. “I think they should. If that can help people in the community for their taxes, roads, infrastructure – why not? Gambling is going on anyway.”

“…[state-run casinos and racetracks] won’t take it over. They won’t even put a dent in it.”

Specifically, Atlantic City casinos and the state’s racetracks will be permitted to add sports betting should it become legal, which only happens if  the U.S. Supreme Court a.) takes the case and b.) decides to overturn the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling preventing the law’s implementation.

FURTHER READING: Cosa Nostra News: A Look at Underground Gambling: the Mob's Lifeblood: