Panel OKs bill to ban NCAA wagers

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2000 | 11:19 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The House Judiciary Committee today passed a bill that targets Nevada casinos by banning bets on college and Olympic sports.

The legislation, backed by college presidents and coaches and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, is now poised for House and Senate floor votes.

The measure likely will pass if it comes to a vote in both chambers. But insiders say the House is more likely to put off a vote until next year. Bill supporters say House Republican leaders don't want to alienate casinos who donate money to campaigns.

Party leaders such as Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., Majority Leader Richard Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay, both R-Texas, had no appetite for the bill even though a majority of Congress supports it, bill sponsor Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said.

"They would vote for it, but they're not behind it," Graham said after the vote. "My goal is to create enough of a fire under the leadership to make sure the membership gets its way around here."

Nevada's four-member delegation vows a continued fight. Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry Reid, both D-Nev., have thus far blocked votes in the Senate. And the delegation hopes House Republican leaders will keep their word and not call for a vote this year.

Committee members today introduced two failed amendments: One would have banned bets on professional sports as well as amateur athletics. With an NFL lobbyist in the audience, the committee debated the amendment, but Graham eventually called for it to be withdrawn because it was likely to doom the legislation.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., then proposed scrapping the whole bill in favor of legislation introduced by Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., that would direct the Justice Department to study illegal gambling nationwide and crack down on illegal gamblers. The proposal was killed on a 17-11 vote with mostly Democrats favoring it.

"It was apparent that the Democrats on the committee are committed to finding a common-sense solution to the problem of illegal gambling," Berkley said after the vote.

The overall bill passed 19-9, hardly the overwhelming majority bill supporters expected. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., said the bill seemed a veiled attempt to outlaw all forms of gambling in Nevada. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., added, "I don't think it's our business to tell Nevada what to do."

Gaming lobbyist Wayne Mehl was encouraged by the committee vote.

"This shows the House leadership just how controversial the bill is," Mehl, of the Nevada Resort Association, said.

Nevada lawmakers say most gambling, around 98 percent, is illegal gambling, with only about 2 percent legal -- in Nevada. The bill does nothing to stop illegal gambling, they say.

"If you put the entire state (Nevada) out of work, you would not even touch the problem, unless to exacerbate it," Berkley wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill.

But NCAA President Cedric Dempsey at a press conference Tuesday called the bill "a start."

"We have never said this legislation will totally stop the problem of sports wagering," he said. "It is not the total answer. We recognize that."

Congress' most vocal supporters of the bill on Tuesday rallied with highly respected former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith for a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol. Smith in June testified before the House Judiciary Committee.

"We get two cameras here when we do this -- when you come we get 50," Roemer gushed to Smith, shaking the coaching legend's hand after the press conference.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said sports betting in Nevada casts a "dark influence on amateur athletics."

"We have one loophole, the Vegas loophole," Brownback said.

Brownback vowed that the Senate would vote on the bill this year.

"This bill is not buried, it's not dead, it's alive and it's got a good chance of passing," Roemer said.

The legislators blasted Nevada's two senators for blocking the bill on several occasions when Brownback and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have tried to bring it up for debate and vote.

"There's no question that Nevada is the only one that would be affected," Bryan said later. "This piece of legislation, if passed, would carve our heart out. It's one that is important to us."

Reid shrugged off the notion that Nevada lawmakers were blocking legislation that is popular nationwide.

"That's what the legislative process is all about," Reid said.

If a majority of Americans approve of the legislation as bill backers assert, it's only because "they have misled the American people into thinking that the problem is Nevada and not the illegal gambling in their own back yards," Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said.

McCain used the event to stump for his campaign-finance reform legislation, saying the gambling industry's money had blocked the bill thus far.

"This is a direct result of big money in American politics," McCain said.

Gaming lobbyists disagreed.

"First of all, to say that this bill has been blocked is a little ludicrous," American Gaming Association lobbyist John Shelk said. "To get this far this fast is hardly being blocked."

The lawmakers also hinted that the legislation banning bets on amateur athletes was especially timely now because the Olympics start this week.

Shelk said that was a not an issue because there is so little betting on Olympic sports in casinos.

Smith stressed that he has long urged newspapers to stop printing point spreads for games to discourage illegal gambling. But the Newspaper Association of America has said that banning bets in Nevada will not prevent them from printing point spreads because nonbetting sports fans also like to know the spreads. And gaming officials say point spreads are readily available on the Internet.

After the hearing Smith also responded to bill critics who say the legislation would hurt Nevada: "Vegas can still take bets on pro games. It's not like they (casinos) are going to be hurting for money."