Columnist Jeff German: Gamers have new shot at bet ban bill

Friday, March 7, 2003 | 11:31 a.m.

With March Madness just around the corner, the casino industry is bracing once more for legislation on Capitol Hill to prohibit sports wagering in Nevada.

Industry lobbyists in Washington expect Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to reintroduce his betting bill within the next two weeks to grab media attention during the NCAA's national basketball tournament, which gets under way on March 18.

Myles Brand, the NCAA's new president, told reporters inside the Beltway this week that his organization still backs McCain's efforts but, unlike in previous sessions of Congress, it isn't making the bill one of its top priorities this year.

Maybe the NCAA finally is starting to understand that gambling on college campuses is the problem, not legal wagering in Nevada.

The problem came into focus this week when former Florida State University quarterback Adrian McPherson was charged in Tallahassee with a misdemeanor count of illegal gambling.

McPherson, who was dismissed from Florida State's football team last November, allegedly had been betting on his own games -- always his team to win. He also reportedly placed wagers on college and pro basketball games, as he ran up $8,000 in gambling debts to a Tallahassee bookie.

No connection has surfaced with any of Nevada's sports books, which is not surprising.

Most college gambling cases involve local bookmakers who have nothing to do with Nevada, the only state where sports betting is legal.

In the past state gaming regulators have estimated that Nevada's sports books take in only 2 to 3 percent of the billions wagered on sporting events in America each year. A total of $1.9 billion was wagered here in 2002.

Since the beginning of this fight four years ago, the casino industry has argued that Nevada doesn't contribute to the sports betting problem on college campuses.

Does anyone really believe that McPherson would have stopped betting if Las Vegas had stopped putting out odds 3,000 miles away?

Of course not.

Maybe, in the wake of this case, the industry's argument will sink in on Capitol Hill.

At the very least, McPherson's misfortune will provide the casino industry with new fodder in its bid to derail McCain's bill.

The industry should bring McPherson to the halls of Congress and let him explain how he developed his gambling problem. Let him explain how no one at Florida State, including his coach, was there to help him before he landed in trouble with the law.

And where was the NCAA when McPherson was losing control of his life?

If the NCAA was smart, it will view the McPherson case as an opportunity to persuade McCain to throw in the towel.

Then it will do what it should have done a long time ago -- work harder to rid its own college campuses of illegal gambling.

Stranger things have happened during March Madness.