Editing Omaha, Nebraska (section)

===Crime===
{{Main|Crime in Omaha, Nebraska}}
{{further|Gambling in Omaha, Nebraska}}

Omaha's [[United States cities by crime rate|rate of violent crimes]] per 100,000 residents has been lower than the average rates of three dozen United States cities of similar size. Unlike Omaha, those cities have experienced an increase in violent crime overall since 2003. Rates for property crime have decreased for both Omaha and its peer cities during the same time period.<ref>[http://www.selectgreateromaha.com/Living-in-Greater-Omaha-Crime.aspx Crime in Omaha] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218235210/http://www.selectgreateromaha.com/Living-in-Greater-Omaha-Crime.aspx |date=February 18, 2009 }}, Greater Omaha Economic Development Council. Retrieved 5/13/08.</ref> In 2006, Omaha was ranked for homicides as 46th out of the 72 cities in the United States of more than 250,000 in population.<ref>[https://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/index.html FBI 2006 Universal Crime Rate] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209230523/http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/index.html |date=February 9, 2014 }}, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 11/20/08.</ref>

As a major industrial city into the mid-20th century, Omaha shared in social tensions that came with rapid growth and the arrival of large numbers of immigrants and migrants. Persistent poverty resulting from racial discrimination and job losses generated different crimes in the late 20th century, with the drug trade and drug abuse becoming associated with violent crime rates, which climbed after 1986 as Los Angeles gangs made affiliates in the city.<ref>Hull, J. (1993) [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930090529/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,978960-3,00.html "A Boy and his Gun"], ''Time'' magazine. Retrieved 8/17/07.</ref>

Gambling in Omaha has been an important part of the city's history. From its founding in the 1850s through the 1930s, the city was known as a "wide-open" town where gambling of all sorts was openly accepted. By the 1950s, at the same time large-scale restructuring of the railroads, the meatpacking industry and other sectors caused widespread job losses and unemployment, Omaha reportedly had more illicit gambling than any other city in the nation.<ref>[http://www.netnebraska.org/extras/statewide/pers/transcripts/Omaha%20Gambling%20History.pdf Transcript to "Nebraska's gambling history"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014040343/http://www.netnebraska.org/extras/statewide/pers/transcripts/Omaha%20Gambling%20History.pdf|date=October 14, 2008}}, Nebraska ETV. Retrieved 11/20/08.</ref> From the 1930s through the 1970s, a Mafia-based criminal element controlled gambling in the city.<ref>United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights. (1974) ''Criminal Justice Data Banks 1974: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary.'' Government Printing Office. p 411.</ref>

As most forms of gambling are currently restricted in Nebraska, gambling in Omaha is limited to [[keno]], [[lottery|lotteries]], and [[parimutuel betting]]. This leaves Omahans to drive across the Missouri River to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where casinos are legal and many businesses operate. Recently, the [[National Indian Gaming Commission]] approved a controversial proposal made by the [[Ponca]] tribe of Nebraska. It will allow the tribe to build a casino in [[Carter Lake, Iowa]], which sits on the west side of the Missouri River, adjacent to Omaha, where casinos are illegal.<ref>[http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/27078104.html "Pottawattamie County May Join Suit Against Casino: Nebraska trying to stop planned Carter Lake casino"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107103556/http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/27078104.html |date=January 7, 2009 }}, [[WOWT]]. August 17, 2008. Retrieved 2/11/09.</ref><ref>[http://www.gamblingwiththegoodlife.com/ Official website] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204031606/http://www.gamblingwiththegoodlife.com/ |date=December 4, 2008 }}. Gambling With The Good Life. Retrieved 11/20/08.</ref><ref>Elfrink, T. and Morton, J. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080121031403/http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10236972 "Casino near Omaha would join booming Indian gambling industry"], ''Omaha World-Herald''. January 20, 2008. Retrieved 2/11/09.</ref>