Betting bill may be getting the boot

Thursday, Feb. 10, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

The casino industry's top Washington lobbyist said today he has been told a bill to ban betting on college sports is dead in the House.

"I've talked to the leadership this morning, and they believe this is a states' rights issue," Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, said in Las Vegas. "At this point, they consider it dead."

Unnamed House leaders have put the word out about the move to block the bill, which is backed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, in an apparent attempt to help Republican state Sen. Jon Porter unseat Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., this year.

"They said Jon Porter was back there over the weekend and convinced them it was a very important issue for Nevada," Fahrenkopf said.

But Democratic members of Nevada's congressional delegation, who have been leading the fight against the bill, were skeptical of Republican claims about Porter's role.

Berkley has been instrumental in persuading House Democratic leaders, including Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri, to oppose the measure, which was introduced last week in the House and Senate.

Nevada's other House member Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons also confirmed that the bill was dead.

"I have talked to the Republican House leadership who have conveyed to me that there is no appetite among the members to move this legislation. Certainly, that is good news for the people of Nevada," Gibbons said.

The defeat of the bill was an effort of the entire Nevada delegation, including Berkley, Gibbons said.

Gibbons confirmed that Porter had been to Washington a number of times talking to the Republican leadership and deserves some of the credit.

"We need all the help we can get," Gibbons said.

Also coming in on the side of Nevada were Reps Bill Archer, R-Texas, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., House Majority Leader Richard Army, R-Texas, and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has introduced a bill that calls for a study of illegal gambling across the country before any attempt to bar Nevada from accepting bets on college athletics.

Fahrenkopf, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said he was "very pleased" that Republicans who control the House expect to kill the NCAA bill.

"But we are going to assume in our work that the opponents of our industry still are going to try to push this, and we are going to be well-prepared to fight it," he said.

Most observers expect there will be hearings this year on the bill in both houses.

Fahrenkopf said the House GOP leadership's position on the measure was consistent with last June's findings of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

The nine-member panel, which studied legalized gambling across the country for two years, concluded that the regulation of the industry should remain in the hands of states.

NCAA allies unveiled the betting ban bill at a well-attended Capitol Hill news conference last week.

Top college names, such as former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith and Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, have lent their support to the bill.

Sun reporter Benjamin Grove contributed to this report.