Attorney general fights for gambling on college sports

Monday, April 3, 2000 | 10:50 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa feels a national report that recommends limitation of collegiate sports betting is way off base.

She says, ..."today's criminals stand to profit nicely if the federal government steers customers away from the licensed sports books in Nevada."

Del Papa filed a minority report on the Public Sector Gaming Study Commission, which released its findings Friday in Atlanta. The attorney general was a member of that commission but was at odds with the report on collegiate sports wagering.

The study commission, Del Papa said, correctly reaches the conclusion that states should regulate gaming if they allow it. The commission is supported by the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States.

"The commission opposes illegal gambling in all forms, and it supports efforts to replace illegal gambling with gambling that is publicly controlled and taxed, and, in some cases, publicly operated." Del Papa says this stance is fine. But she said the report contains misinformation about sports wagering.

The study says sports handicapping is not regulated. And it is unlikely anyone who received false sports betting information would file a complaint with law enforcement.

In reality, Del Papa said handicappers are required to register and post a bond with the state in Nevada. She added the state Consumer Affairs Division receives "a substantial number" of these complaints and several investigations are under way.

The report said much of the sports betting is done outside Nevada. It recommends a federal law to prohibit collection on Internet sports gambling debts charged to credit cards. There should also be a federal law to prohibit wire transfers of money to pay for sports gambling debts, the report says.

The study also recommends federal law should clearly ban advertising of Internet-based amateur sports gambling on television, radio or through the Internet. And it said there should be more study on gambling among college students on sports.

Del Papa refers to the bill in Congress that wants to prohibit wagering on high school and college sports. That would stop Nevada casinos from taking bets on collegiate games. There is no place in the country now, she said, where a person can legally bet on a high school game.

The NCAA is pushing the federal bill and says every college campus has student bookies. Del Papa said, "Such an admission is astounding. If the NCAA knows that illegal activity is occurring on its member campuses, why is it not demanding that law enforcement agencies prosecute those involved?" she asked.

The federal legislation, she said, is focused on legal gambling and it would take away a "another area properly left to state regulation."

U.S. senators know that tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars are illegally bet on collegiate sports annually. "Their proposed legislation will not curtail that criminal activity," she said. "In fact, organized crime figures must be anxiously hoping that the senators' proposed legislation becomes law," that will close Nevada's betting on college sports and leave a wider opportunity for illegal wagering.