In respect to telecommunications, during World War II, it was reported that the illegal interstate horse race telephone wire service was, in some respects, more reliable technically and suffered less down-time than land links of the U. S. War Department. After the war, the need for rapid, accurate communications of track odds continued. One solution was the use of a new sophisticated broadcast technology called SCA, which involved the use of FM radio station subcarrier frequencies. The FCC, under pressure by the Senator McClellan's Committee on Government Operations, soon put a stop to these services, which had proliferated in several cities in the early 1960s. In the early 1990s, racetrack results were available again by means of microwave computer or SCA data services, that could be viewed in an office with an FM data terminal or on the road with a remarkable handheld data terminal, the Sportrax.
Similar systems exist now at almost every race track and casino book in the world.
In fact, the new controversial issue in telecommunications is the ease of international gambling transactions. Regulation is impossible without a major invasion of privacy, and the public policy debate is just beginning. This is a new, evolving website, and it will take some time to assemble scattered notes into something useful. Meanwhile, let me know if you know of any related links or websites.