Editorial: Teamwork slows bill to ban betting

Friday, May 11, 2001 | 9:35 a.m.

Nevada's U.S. senators, Democrat Harry Reid and Republican John Ensign, almost pulled off a miracle late last week when the college sports betting ban was up for consideration in the Senate Commerce Committee. Although the bill authored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., eventually was sent to the full Senate after a 10-10 vote, if it hadn't been for the unexpected absence of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, there would have been enough votes to defeat the legislation. Ensign was able to secure Stevens' support, but Stevens' last-minute meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell prevented his presence -- and the bill's demise.

Meanwhile, it also was encouraging that Reid and Ensign were able to obtain pledges from a number of senators that they would oppose efforts to tack the sports betting ban onto an overall education spending bill. If such an amendment were added, even senators who opposed the sports betting ban would be hard pressed to vote against the overall package because of the education benefits it provides to their constituents.

While this is all positive news, the state's gaming industry is by no means out of the woods. If history is any guide, it would suggest that the more people say that McCain is tilting at windmills, the more insistent he will be on proving his skeptics wrong. While he lost his long-shot bid to win the GOP presidential nomination last year, his gritty determination tied George W. Bush in knots in the early going. (In an ironic twist of sorts, the Bush campaign appealed to social conservatives in the pivotal South Carolina primary by actually suggesting that McCain had close ties to the gaming industry -- a charge that certainly amused Nevada's sports books given McCain's enmity to wagering on amateur athletics.) It also should be noted that McCain's legendary tenacity finally paid off as his campaign finance reform legislation passed earlier this year -- des pite being rebuffed repeatedly for years.

Still, what the past week has demonstrated is that Reid and Ensign are an effective, bipartisan tag team on the misguided ban on college sports betting, which only would serve to drive this wagering underground. It is hoped that on other issues that affect Nevada -- and aren't necessarily partisan in nature -- that both Reid and Ensign can work together as well as they have on fighting the sports betting ban.