College betting ban moves forward

[Jeff]

Lott backs ban on collegiate sports betting
By BETH MUSGRAVE
SUN HERALD WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - Legal gambling proponents squared off against collegiate sports enthusiasts and a reform-minded senator Thursday at a Senate committee hearing on a bill to make betting on college and amateur sports teams in Nevada illegal.


The bill, introduced by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who led the charge for campaign finance reform, was killed last year by Nevada lawmakers. But lawmakers supporting the bill believe the odds are in their favor this year, citing broad support and plenty of time in the legislative calendar to beat stalling tactics by the Nevada delegation.


Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., has said he would support the bill. "Senator Lott is against wagering on amateur sports," said spokesman Lee Youngblood. "He supported the bill last year and will support it again this year."


According to the FBI, during the NCAA national basketball championships alone more than $2.5 million is wagered nationally. In the past 10 years, there have been 10 incidents involving gambling and college sports teams.


A federal gambling survey recommended that the "Nevada loophole," which excludes Nevada from a 1992 ban on college betting, be reversed to stem a growing gambling problem on college campuses.


McCain said Thursday the bill would help curb illegal gambling and send a national message that gambling on high school, college or Olympic sports is wrong.


Opponents say the bill does not deal with illegal gambling, which they claim accounts for 99 percent of all betting on college sports teams. Moreover, without the oversight of the Las Vegas gambling industry, federal authorities would not know whether a game had been fixed, they say.


"If this bill passes, you will make fixing college games very easy," said Danny Sheridan, a sports analyst for USA Today, whose odds appear in a variety of publications. If passed, the bill would translate to more illegal gambling, he said.


Mississippi Gaming Association officials agreed with Sheridan and foes of the bill, but added it would have no effect on the Mississippi or Coast gambling industry if passed.


"What is really the heart of the matter is illegal sports betting, particularly at the college level," said Andy Bourland, executive director of the association. "This is not going to solve the problem."

[DeacDoug]

Although this is an ominous sign for the future of Vegas, Reno sports betting, there is one plus in that McCain is so unpopular on the Hill that anything with his name on it is viewed with suspicion. If this legislation should pass and Vegas gets an NBA team, there won't be anything left in Nevada but NFL football on which to make serious wagers. I, for one, would probably never go there again. Offshore wagering is wonderful, but there is nothing like collecting on a winning ticket as soon as the lazy bastards running the sportsbook declare the game official.

[reno]

DeacDoug, pigs will fly before Vegas gets an NBA team. Vegas is incapable of supporting any professional franchise.

It is unbelievable how idiotic people like McCain are. What does the availability of college betting in Nevada have to do with campus gambling? If anything, outlawing college betting in Nevada will stimulate more illegal and more offshore action.

[Alpine]

I'm assuming that FBI number should be 2.5 BILLION. I'm pretty sure the average U.S. citizen wagers more than 1 penny during March Madness

[Jeff]

Opponents criticize college gambling bill


Updated 12:00 PM ET April 26, 2001

By David Clarke
Medill News Service/Y Vote 2000
Northwestern U.


(U-WIRE) WASHINGTON -- Opponents of a bill that would outlaw gambling on college sports argued Thursday that without legal gambling in Las Vegas, points-shaving scandals would increase.

"If you lose Nevada, you lose the canary in the mine shaft," said Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., president and chief executive of the American Gaming Association.

Nevada is the only state where gambling on college athletics is legal. Legislation pending in the Senate and the House would prohibit such gambling there too.

"It would be the illegal bookies' dream come true to have this law enforcement tool removed," Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., testified at a Senate committee hearing.

Based on betting patterns, bookmakers in Las Vegas are able to determine whether a team is shaving points or fixing games and have an incentive to report it, according to the bill's opponents.

"If the game is fixed, the Las Vegas bookmakers lose," Fahrenkopf said.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association contends this argument is an overstatement.

"On one occasion it helped, with Arizona State," said Doris Dixon of the NCAA's legislative office in Washington. In 1997 two former Arizona State basketball players were convicted of shaving points in the early 1990s.

Banning gambling on college games in Las Vegas will help reduce illegal gambling nationwide, said John McCain, R-Ariz., the bill's sponsor.

"Big illegal gambling rings rely on Las Vegas to lay off their bets, and that won't be there anymore," said Dixon.

Betting in Las Vegas makes up only 1 percent of all sports gambling nationwide, Fahrenkopf said. If gambling rings were laying off their bets, this number would be much higher, he said.

Gambling, especially on college campuses, relies on the odds coming out of Las Vegas, Dixon said. If it were illegal, betting odds would disappear from newspapers, she said.

Danny Sheridan, an oddsmaker for USA Today, however, said he had already been contacted by newspaper chains that want to print his line if the Las Vegas books are closed.

There are also thousands of betting lines on the Internet that would not go away, Fahrenkopf said.

The debate over the role legal gambling plays in the integrity of college sports is secondary to a broader issue, according to North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, one of four co-sponsors of the bill.

"It is very important for us to send a clear message nationally that we don't support gambling," he said.

Opponents of the bill did not disagree that illegal gambling is a threat to college athletics.

There are bills in both the House and Senate, sponsored by representatives from Las Vegas who oppose McCain's bill, that call for stiffer penalties on illegal sports gambling and a study on gambling on college campuses.

Pressure to shave points or throw games is not the only way gambling affects student athletes.

Officials from both the North Carolina and Duke athletic departments said gamblers try to gain an edge by calling athletes in their rooms hoping to get information about injuries and who may not play. The callers often pose as acquaintances or friends, said Larry Gallo of the UNC athletic department.

"It's tough when you have to watch your back when you're talking to your friends over a pizza," Charlotte native and Penn State basketball player Titus Ivory said at the hearing.

(C) 2001 Medill News Service/Y Vote 2000 via U-WIRE

[Railbird]

The VC's should have done Mccain in when they had their chance.

[garrow]

How did he get pass on the s&l scandal? Did the time he did in vc prison count as time he should have done in a us prison?