There's generally no one doing the work basically. A gym I went to had notoriously bad competitions and advertising. It was never the "last memberships available" and there wasn't actually "10 days left" the counter just changed back on the final day. No one ever got the prizes either, they just never announced a winner, and a new competition started the same day. People still signed up by the hundreds.

Hundereds of formal complaints by people from the gym to the ombudsman and consumer affairs over more than five years amounted to literally nothing. They still do everything they used to.

Even more seriously, they didn't pay their employees superannuation, and it took years to even start the process of sorting that out.

As these car competitions are run by private businesses and not the car manufacturers my guess is they are simply too small of a fish to go after.

Now, just last week that same gym was implicated in a drug trafficking ring. But that's a different department of law enforcement...

It is incredibly frustrating that police don’t seem to actively enforce the majority of the laws. My local police seem anemic. There sure are a lot of them, though. Patrol cars are always visible. And, (right-wing) politicians seem to always want to be hiring more and upgrading their gear. For instance, recently they asked for a $30M shooting range. But, if the local newspapers are a good record, it seems that all they seem to do is give out speeding tickets, enforce drug laws, and and bust minorities and immigrants (for whatever). I’m not being facetious.

Anyone in the US have tips on how to get involved to help oversee and direct them? I’m pretty naive and don’t have much time, but I do have motivation, at least. I have tried calling them in the past to get a better understanding of what they do, but it was difficult to find the right person to talk to. I’ve considered doing independent research and reporting (via FOIA), but I also fear repercussions.

> Why haven't they all been shutdown if they are clearly illegal?

Is anyone seriously complaining? This is the first I've heard about this scam in years.

The local DA and the DOJ have limited resources, probably. Popehat often talks about this.

Because after decades of capitalists whining about the large and bloated state and trying to cut down from every possible angle, there is probably noone left to do these jobs.

This is the market sorting itself out.