Columnist Dean Juipe: Aussies, athletes bet on Games

Dean Juipe

Friday, Sept. 22, 2000 | 10:23 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

In comparison to Australia, America is inhabited by world-class prudes.

It's evident in any number of areas, not the least of which is legalized gambling on sports. While we in Nevada are alarmed at the prospect of losing the right to bet on a college football or basketball game, the tolerant and opened-minded folks Down Under are betting feverishly on the ongoing Olympic Games.

Even the athletes themselves are betting, not only on Olympic events that may appeal to them but on their very own event if they're so inclined.

Imagine the uproar this would cause in the conservative, Uncle-Sam-knows-best U.S.

To date at least, there is no sign of impropriety or foul play with regard to fixing events as the result of gambling's influence in Sydney. There probably won't be, either, although the U.S. softball team's unexpected poor showing could be classified as suspicious to those with an anti-gaming vent.

Nonetheless, U.S. politicians express only negative views of gambling and are crusading to eliminate sports wagering completely, which would require outlawing it in Nevada. Such a measure stands a good chance of being signed into law as early as next year.

The Australians, however, are not so skittish. They're also big on personal freedoms and they can get the U.S. Olympic basketball team at 1-20 to win the gold.

Through legalized betting parlors, casinos and the country's 14 online gambling sites, Aussies -- as well as the tourists and athletes presently in Australia -- are expected to wager $42 million on the Summer Games. When the Olympics were held in 1996 in Atlanta, Australian sports books took $2 million in related wagers and admitted to $120,000 in losses as the result of not being sufficiently familiar with many of the events and participants.

But this time the bookies say they've done their research and won't be hoodwinked, although we in America are seeing and hearing next to nothing about how they're faring or the very subject of fans and athletes betting on the Games. Whether a conspiracy or merely an oversight, reporters down there seem amazingly mum on the subject.

This much is known: the International Olympic Committee, as well as at least a few members of the U.S. Olympic Committee, were aghast to learn the sports books in Australia had the wherewithal to accept wagers on the Games. You can bet the U.S. athletes were lectured on the subject, although there is nothing in the "code of conduct" pact that every Olympian must sign that pertains to restrictions on legalized wagering.

Of course the IOC and the USOC do-gooders were merely espousing their narrow-minded view that all gambling is evil and that sports wagering never should be condoned. Conversely in Australia, putting a fiver on the local rowing team is an inalienable right and even the president of the Australian Olympic Committee said he would be betting on the Games.

Meanwhile, back in the United States, elected officials worry about a small state like Nevada taking $5 wagers on things such as a Clemson vs. Virginia football game.

Our misplaced priorities would be a national disgrace if our country's politicians were thinking clearly.