Resolution OK'd on sports betting

CARSON CITY -- A resolution urging Congress to keep its hands off Nevada's legal collegiate sports betting industry was approved unanimously Monday by the Assembly and sent to the Senate.

"It's apparent to us the NCAA has declared war on our state," Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said. "With this resolution, we send the right message, and that is, 'Concentrate on illegal betting and leave us alone.' "

In addition, said Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, congressional passage of a ban on college sports betting in Nevada would damage efforts to fight illegal sports wagering.

Assembly Joint Resolution 2 notes that legal sports books in Nevada have helped uncover some point-shaving schemes that might otherwise have gone undetected. The amount of illegal sports betting is estimated at $350 billion, compared with $2.5 billion in legal wagering in Nevada.

The legislation to prohibit legal sports betting was introduced in Congress last year but failed to gain approval despite heavy lobbying from the National Collegiate Athletics Association and support from some major college coaches. But it is to be revived this session.

Nevada is the only state that allows betting on college games, and the NCAA has pushed for the national ban. It has suggested there might be illegal student bookmakers on nearly every campus in the nation.

The resolution points out, "There have been no reports of student bookmakers on any college campus in this state contributing to the flood of illegal sports wagers."

Meanwhile, battle lines are being drawn on Capitol Hill over the campaign to ban college sports betting.

The Nevada congressional delegation in February introduced alternative bills in both houses calling for stepped-up Justice Department scrutiny of illegal sports wagering in America. The measure requires the NCAA to do more about betting on its college campuses.

Proponents of the ban say that outlawing legal betting on college games in Nevada will take away one of the illegal bookies' strongest tools -- the Las Vegas line -- and thus go a long way toward putting a stop to what they say has become a national epidemic of sports betting.

Sun reporter

Ed Koch contributed to this report.

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