Big US gambling houses pay politicians to protect their business model, it seems.
It is illegal to gamble in the physical world in most of the US (with some very conspicuous exceptions - horse racing, Indian tribe-run casinos and state-run lotteries).
Also, in a lot of costal cities, you can get on a scheduled floating casino, sail 7 miles out to sea, and start gambling.
That is surprising to me. I bet you couldn't park a boat 7.1 miles out to sea and sell heroin by the tonne!
It is legal wherever they are able to effectively take their cut... err, I mean tax it.
Furthermore, how it competes with the gambling institutions they own ("lotteries") is also taken into consideration.
It's not the lotteries. Make no mistake, it's the brick-and-mortar casinos and their bottomless cash bags.
That's certainly the case in states where brick-and-mortar casinos are legal. I'm not familiar with their status in Maryland however. Just about all states have "state lotteries" as far as I know though.
My guess is that even if Maryland doesn't have casinos, New Jersey does, and they know where their money comes from.
why is it ok to fund police departments with seized goods? Seems like a bit of conflict of interest.
Sounds like a helluva business model to me.
Indeed, asset forfeiture is nearly as lucrative as fraudulent foreclosure, paying legislators to make people give you money, or threatening the destruction of the global economy. I would definitely like to get in on the racket, as long as I have no power to prevent it. Unfortunately I am not a police department, bank, or insurance company.