The Sicilians were big in gambling for a while but not in bookmaking or other traditional American games. They had clubs with. advice game who's name I can't recall (Barbuit?) until they faded out. Arabs were also big in it, along with a small handful of Greeks. It is only one aspect of gambling, but was said to be a big money maker for those running the games. I'm speaking about in America, as for Italy they most likely rung everything there.