You'd have to be pretty naive to think being legal would then suddenly mean you can easily make it. Burgers are legal. The vast majority consume them. Now open

You'd have to be pretty naive to think being legal would then suddenly mean you can easily make it. Burgers are legal. The vast majority consume them. Now open a burger joint and corner the market! Oh wait.. Health code regulations? Employee benefits? Payrolls? Tax? Inspections? Fire code? Have to be better and/or cheaper then the big chains? Who would have guessed running a successful business wasn't trivial! People who were in the game before competed against anyone who couldn't run a small time dry cleaning shop. They were in it because it was illegal and those good at business was instead running legal businesses.