Casino leaders lash back at NCAA bid to ban betting

Friday, Oct. 8, 1999 | 11:21 a.m.

Nevada casino industry and congressional leaders today are assailing the National Collegiate Athletic Association's campaign to persuade Congress to ban betting on college sports.

"If they think they're going to stop wagering on college sports by shutting down betting in Nevada, they're kidding themselves," said Mike Sloan, chairman of the Nevada Resort Association, the industry's political arm here.

Sloan called the NCAA's legislative push "misguided, but "something we've got to be very concerned about."

The Sun reported Thursday that the industry learned about the NCAA's lobbying efforts during a meeting in Washington Monday between NCAA President Cedric Dempsey and Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association.

Fahrenkopf, the industry's chief spokesman in Washington, sent a confidential memo to his board members, saying he told Dempsey he was confident he would receive instructions to "vigorously oppose" the NCAA's efforts.

In a copy of the two-page memo, obtained by the Sun, Fahrenkopf said Dempsey told him that the NCAA had approached Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, about introducing the sports betting ban. Hatch, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, comes from a state that has no legalized gambling.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., today called the NCAA's campaign "misdirected" and said it would have a "disproportionate impact" on Nevada, where sports betting is a $2.3 billion-a-year business.

Bryan acknowledged that gambling on college campuses is a problem, but he said the vast majority of college students place bets with illegal bookmakers, not Nevada sports books.

"There are legitimate concerns about the rising level of student gambling," Bryan said. "But they've selected the wrong medicine."

Bryan said it was unlikely that any sports betting legislation would be introduced this session, as Congress prepares to recess for the year.

He said he was anxious to see whether the NCAA's push would become part of the Republican leadership's agenda. Republicans control Congress.

One Nevada Republican, Rep. Jim Gibbons, voiced his opposition to the NCAA's proposal.

'While maintaining integrity in college sports is important," Gibbons said, "the NCAA is unfairly targeting our state's gaming industry.

'Instead, the NCAA should be working with Congress to enforce laws and prosecute those who promote the unregulated and illegal sports betting, which has proliferated throughout America."

Gibbons added: "Nevada's gaming industry has worked effectively with federal and state agencies to alert the NCAA to suspicious betting patterns and potential scandals."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., also condemned the proposed sports betting ban.

"To single out the gaming industry, and even more narrowly sports betting, is ridiculous," Berkley said. "It's time that Congress start focusing on the real problems of this country and stop attacking Nevada and blaming it for every social ill in the United States."

In his memo, Fahrenkopf reported that Dempsey had told him that sports betting in Nevada has the potential to "bring down" collegiate sports.

Bill Saum, director of agent and gambling activities for the NCAA, told the Sun Thursday that the National Gambling Impact Study Commission had inspired his association to push for the ban.

The nine-member panel, created by Congress to conduct a two-year study of gambling in American, recommended in June that states prohibit sports betting on college games.