It's a local industry. They have a whole foodchain based on this and everybody stands to profit. I think in an earlier HN thread somebody also mentioned that in the early 20th century there were also towns that simply rob and kill any passer-by that would lodge in a hotel, with the sheriff etc. all complicit. In a sense this is typically American isn't it. Similar is how some towns would issue tickets for infringements such as jaywalking all the time without any oversight whatsoever.