There was a period where all illegal bookies in the nation had to subscribe to a "legal" wire service in order to get real-time betting results
Every single illegal bookie across America couldn't operate successfully without paying tribute

Whoever controlled the wire services, likely can be thought to have dominated influence in illegal gambling across America during that time period as well

Moses “Moe” Annenberg's Nationwide News was the largest wire service in the country during the 1930s with 28 offices across the US
In 1940 Moe was eventually sent to 3 years prison with a fine of $8 million ($150 million in 2021) which was "the largest single tax fraud penalty in history" at the time
A hint into the fortune up for grabs by controlling the wire service

Nationwide News was rebranded as Continental by founder Arthur B. Mickey McBride and managed by James Ragen
James Ragen was eventually murdered in 1947 which may have meant Continental was successfully muscled in on

TransAmerica was another big wire service with a hard history to make sense of, but definitely controlled by the Mob