I was running a small sports handicapping and event tickets service and taking some bets to bring in some cash during my junior and senior years of college.  I figured it was not only better than working the grill at McDonalds but quite a bit more profitable as well, and it wasn’t having any negative effect on my social life because I was setting my own hours.  It was an absolute dream job.  I even made enough money during football season to buy a used car.  I was on top of the world, that is, until I got caught, my life is now on the fast track down the toilet.  I got expelled from school just a semester away from graduation and the police took my laptop, which has records of all of the bets placed by other students with me over the course of the last two years.  I didn’t know a whole lot about the penalties that came with getting caught, because I honestly didn’t think I was ever going to get caught, but according to my lawyer I could get up to ten years in jail or have to pay a fine of up to twenty thousand dollars.  Other than this fiasco, my record is clean so I probably won’t have to suffer to the fullest extent of the law, but apparently the evidence on my laptop is easily enough for them to charge me with professional gambling in the first degree.  I just hope that the judge shows some leniency since I am a first time offender.