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Nevada congresswoman calls for NCAA probe over bet ban
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Feb-14-Thu-2002/business/18097750.html
Shelley Berkley says sports governing body abusing power; panelists taken aback
By TONY BATT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., on Wednesday called for a federal investigation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is trying to ban Nevada sports books from taking bets on college athletic events.
Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on trade and consumer protection, Berkley charged the NCAA is abusing the power it has acquired from the labor of college athletes.
"A full congressional study would uncover an organization dedicated to the proposition of taking care and protecting itself and doing as little as possible to take care and protect the student athletes," Berkley said.
Committee members seemed taken aback by Berkley's scathing remarks about the NCAA.
"Tell us how you really feel," Chairman Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., joked at the conclusion of Berkley's testimony.
Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., a former head football coach at the University of Nebraska, said legalized sports betting in Nevada on college events is "bad for the game."
"Would Congress say it's OK to counterfeit money in one state and not in 49 states?" Osborne asked.
The impact of Wednesday's hearing on NCAA-backed legislation to outlaw betting in Nevada on college sports is unclear. The subcommittee does not have jurisdiction of the NCAA bill or alternative legislation offered last year by Berkley and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. Both measures continue to languish in the House, and Wednesday's hearing broke little new ground in the debate.
Stearns said he scheduled the hearing to "examine the impact of commercialization and gambling on amateur sports and to look at how to address the interests of student athletes."
Osborne and Bill Saum, the NCAA's director of agent, gambling and amateurism, told the panel that more than $1 million was wagered legally in Nevada during a point-shaving scandal on the Arizona State men's basketball team in the 1993-94 season.
Saum said legal bets also were placed at Nevada casinos in another point-shaving scheme involving the Northwestern men's basketball team the following season.
"We look forward to working with you to close the gap that has not only allowed legal betting on college sports to continue but also fuels illegal betting on college games," Saum said.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, testified the NCAA has failed to prove that legalized betting in Nevada contributes to illegal sports wagering.
"Between 1945 and 1974, there were 42 incidences of point shaving. There were no Nevada sports books then," Fahrenkopf said. "Since 1975, there have only been four instances (of point shaving)."
Nevada sports books take in about $2 billion annually, Berkley said, and college games account for about a third of the wagers. She compared that to $380 billion in illegal sport betting.
Stearns asked why Nevada is reluctant to give up college sports betting since it accounts for such a small portion of the state's gaming income.
Berkley said Las Vegas has been hit hard by the economic downturn following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. She added sports wagering is carefully regulated in Nevada, and the federal government should not tell the state what to do.
Shelley Berkley says sports governing body abusing power; panelists taken aback
By TONY BATT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., on Wednesday called for a federal investigation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is trying to ban Nevada sports books from taking bets on college athletic events.
Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on trade and consumer protection, Berkley charged the NCAA is abusing the power it has acquired from the labor of college athletes.
"A full congressional study would uncover an organization dedicated to the proposition of taking care and protecting itself and doing as little as possible to take care and protect the student athletes," Berkley said.
Committee members seemed taken aback by Berkley's scathing remarks about the NCAA.
"Tell us how you really feel," Chairman Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., joked at the conclusion of Berkley's testimony.
Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., a former head football coach at the University of Nebraska, said legalized sports betting in Nevada on college events is "bad for the game."
"Would Congress say it's OK to counterfeit money in one state and not in 49 states?" Osborne asked.
The impact of Wednesday's hearing on NCAA-backed legislation to outlaw betting in Nevada on college sports is unclear. The subcommittee does not have jurisdiction of the NCAA bill or alternative legislation offered last year by Berkley and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. Both measures continue to languish in the House, and Wednesday's hearing broke little new ground in the debate.
Stearns said he scheduled the hearing to "examine the impact of commercialization and gambling on amateur sports and to look at how to address the interests of student athletes."
Osborne and Bill Saum, the NCAA's director of agent, gambling and amateurism, told the panel that more than $1 million was wagered legally in Nevada during a point-shaving scandal on the Arizona State men's basketball team in the 1993-94 season.
Saum said legal bets also were placed at Nevada casinos in another point-shaving scheme involving the Northwestern men's basketball team the following season.
"We look forward to working with you to close the gap that has not only allowed legal betting on college sports to continue but also fuels illegal betting on college games," Saum said.
Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, testified the NCAA has failed to prove that legalized betting in Nevada contributes to illegal sports wagering.
"Between 1945 and 1974, there were 42 incidences of point shaving. There were no Nevada sports books then," Fahrenkopf said. "Since 1975, there have only been four instances (of point shaving)."
Nevada sports books take in about $2 billion annually, Berkley said, and college games account for about a third of the wagers. She compared that to $380 billion in illegal sport betting.
Stearns asked why Nevada is reluctant to give up college sports betting since it accounts for such a small portion of the state's gaming income.
Berkley said Las Vegas has been hit hard by the economic downturn following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. She added sports wagering is carefully regulated in Nevada, and the federal government should not tell the state what to do.