Nevada lawmakers scoff at national gambling tax proposal

Kiley Russell

Wednesday, June 16, 1999 | 10:10 a.m.

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf's proposal for a 1 percent federal gambling tax has Nevada lawmakers shaking their heads in disbelief.

Gambling is addictive, causes suffering and hurts the poor, young and elderly the most, Wolf contends. His proposed tax, which would amount to about $500,000 million a year, would be used to support treatment for gambling addicts.

But Wolf's announcement Tuesday came as no shock to Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.

"Wolf has been obsessed with the subject of gaming for years, so his reaction comes as no surprise. It's fair to say that the congressman would blame everything from global warming to male pattern baldness on the gaming industry," Bryan said Wednesday.

The tax is just one of several proposals Wolf said he will introduce after the Friday release of a two-year national study on legal betting in the United States.

Wolf also wants to prohibit gamblers from writing off losses against their winnings and to restrict ATM access in casinos.

He said he intends to offer legislation to impose a federal ban on amateur and college sports betting.

But Bryan said all the issues raised by Wolf's proposals are better dealt with on the state level.

"Its not something that the federal government ought to be involved in if the state and industry are addressing this on their own - and I think they are making real progress on that," he said.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., says Wolf's proposals are an outright attack on legal gambling.

"Obviously the man has a separation between fact and fantasy. He has not the slightest idea of how the gaming industry works," she said. "This national gambling commission that he rammed down the throat of Congress was just a sham to give him cover to introduce ludicrous legislation in an attempt to destroy the gaming industry."

Congressman Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, assured him Tuesday that he would oppose any efforts to tax the gambling industry at the federal level.