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The Secret Jewish History Of Sports Gambling

JL;DR SUMMARY The overturning of a federal ban on state-authorized sports gambling by the U.S. Supreme Court has brought renewed attention to the significant and storied involvement of Jewish figures in the world of sports betting. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HistorySupreme CourtJewish IdentityMeyer LanskyProverbsSports GamblingArnold RothsteinTony BloomBlack Sox ScandalCompulsive Gambling

Places mentioned

Saratoga Springs, New York, United States
"sold his first pool in 1855 in New Orleans on a match race between the horses Lexington and LeCompte and later ran a betting operation out of the basement of the United States Hotel in Saratoga Springs, N.Y."
New York City, New York, United States
"in 1984, gambling was considered such a problem in the Jewish community in New York City that the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies formed a Task Force on Compulsive Gambling."
Dix Hills, New York, United States
"The New York Timess report on the proceedings quoted Rabbi Marc Gellman of Temple Beth Torah in Dix Hills, L.I., thusly: It is in the texts of our tradition and in our history."
Chicago, Illinois, United States
"the so-called Black Sox Scandal of 1919, in which someone Rothstein? paid the Chicago White Sox to deliberately lose the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds."
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
"on cards and games of chance in casinos in Cuba, Miami, and Las Vegas."
Brighton & Hove, Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom
"Bloom, a veteran gambler who owns the Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (thats soccer to you Americans), made millions setting up an online bookmaker and poker websites in the 2000s"

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Cairo Item ID 75904
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-02-22 05:30:48 UTC
Curated 2026-02-22 08:30:38 UTC