Nebraska Rep. Tom Osborne pushes anti-betting legislation

Benjamin Grove

Friday, March 18, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., a renowned former college football coach, on Thursday introduced a bill that would ban betting on college games in Nevada sports books.

Osborne unveiled the bill with little fanfare, unlike in previous years when supporters of the legislation held high-profile press conferences that coincided with the kickoff of the NCAA basketball tournament.

MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman called the effort "misguided" and said he didn't believe the bill will pass.

"I think it's a continuing sign of the hypocrisy in America today and it will likely go nowhere," Feldman said.

"It's the same old dance with a different partner," added Larry Grossman, who hosts the radio show "You Can Bet On It" in Las Vegas.

The legislation has been considered by Congress in each of the past five years, but has never come close to passing both the House and Senate.

In years past, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been a vocal champion of the bill, generating media attention as well as interest from a number of lawmakers in Congress. But McCain is no longer chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the bill, and he has signaled that the fight is largely futile given strong opposition by the gambling industry and Nevada lawmakers led by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Bill supporters say the bill, by outlawing college sports gambling in the one place where it is legally offered -- Nevada -- ultimately could help curb gambling on amateur sports, especially by college students. They say it is unseemly to bet on college players.

But Nevada lawmakers, who have led vocal campaigns to kill the bill, say the bill would do nothing to lessen betting on college games. They note that most gambling on college sports is conducted illegally outside Nevada. They say the legislation unfairly targets legal, highly regulated gambling inside the state.

"The Nevada sports book industry is the best friend of the NCAA," Grossman said.

The Osborne legislation could actually make the problem worse by forcing all betting "underground," American Gaming Association president Frank Fahrenkopf said.

"This so-called 'solution' is akin to banning alchohol everywhere to address underage drinking," Fahrenkopf said. "As we've seen in the past, Prohibition doesn't work."