I saw this thread
Gambling in Pop Culture and I remember one movie in particular, starring John Malcovich and Matt Damon. And it makes me wonder about those underground gambling rings. And also when I was growing up watching movies locally, there will always this plot twist that there is a illegal gambling den and it will be raided by the hero of the movie and then those running it says it is being protected by high officials of the government.
Honestly this type of things are so common in movies. Usually right there are those underground fighting dens in which people can bet on. It is very common in action movies lol. But if you watched the x-men movies, you will also see how people would bet while watching two people fight right in front of them.
Eugene Trincher ran a high-stakes illegal poker game in New York City from 2010 through April 2013. At these games, the pots frequently reached tens of thousands of dollars or more. The operators of these poker games, including Eugene Trincher, collected percentages of the pots known as "rakes." Each of the poker games employed at least five or more people to assist with the operation of the poker games, payments of debts, and collection of debts.
This does not even seem the worst to be honest. Like I said in movies there have been a lot of events where betting on real people fighting was heavily portrayed. I would not be surprised if things like that actually happened in real life.