NCAA betting bill on way

The casino industry, with Congress moving to adjourn for the year, was bracing today for the introduction of a Senate bill to ban betting on college sports.

"We fully expect that this legislation will be introduced before the end of the current session," said Wayne Mehl, Washington lobbyist for the Nevada Resort Association, the industry's local political arm.

Mehl said this morning the industry has been informed that Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who is regarded as a gambling critic, was proceeding with plans to offer the bill this session.

Congress had planned to adjourn today, but an impasse over the budget bill threatened to extend the session into next week, giving Brownback more time to round up co-sponsors if he needs them.

The bill has been inspired by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is mounting a campaign to clean up sports betting on its campuses across the country.

"I think it's going to be an extremely uphill fight for the industry," Mehl said. "Those people who want to demagogue about young people and gambling and athletics have a perfect opportunity to do it in this context."

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, the industry's chief Washington lobby, agreed.

"It's going to be a tough fight," he said. "Most people in this country, including myself and the leaders of our industry, want to do anything we can to protect the integrity of college and amateur athletics. Where we disagree with the NCAA is the method of doing it.

"But the NCAA is highly regarded, and that's what makes it difficult," Fahrenkopf added. "Most legislators want to be able to say to their constituents that they're on the side of the NCAA rather than Nevada casinos."

Fahrenkopf was in Las Vegas today to meet with casino industry leaders to map out a strategy for what could be a protracted fight.

He scheduled a 4:30 p.m. meeting with Bill Bible, the NRA's new president, and top casino executives knowledgeable about sports betting.

Fahrenkopf said he didn't believe there would be any action on betting ban measure until the next session of Congress.

Last month, Fahrenkopf warned NCAA President Cedric Dempsey the industry was prepared for an all-out war with the collegiate organization over the sports betting issue, which is considered important to Nevada's economy.

He called the NCAA's push a "cosmetic response" to a serious gambling problem on the nation's campuses.

The NCAA, he said, should be concentrating more on widespread illegal gambling throughout the country.

Bill Saum, the NCAA's director of agent and gambling activities, said his group was prepared to go toe to toe with the casino industry in its campaign to persuade Congress to enact a betting ban law.

Among those said to be aligned with the NCAA is Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate's Judiciary Committee.

The industry is not without its own influential allies, among them Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. and Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate's chief GOP fund-raiser who has made several political trips to Las Vegas in recent months.

archive