When you’re coining it by ripping off customers, the last thing you want is competition. If you can get government’s goons, armed with laws and courts and big guns, to help protect your turf, so much the better. That’s why there’s no cartel as emblematic of cronyism as the casino business.

A handful of operators are granted licences to run local monopolies, on condition that they pay the government protection money. When someone does step onto their turf, the answer is simple: ask the government’s goons to ‘take care of them’.