Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Oregon wants NCAA tourneys; may end NFL-based lottery

SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon lawmakers might be ready to boot a marginally profitable professional football betting game in hopes of attracting more lucrative college basketball tournaments to the state.

At issue is Sports Action, the nation's only state-sponsored sports betting game in which gamblers place wagers on National Football League games.

Sports Action has raised about $30 million for university athletic departments since it was started in 1989, but some political and business leaders now believe the game has backfired on Oregon.

That's because the National Collegiate Athletic Association refuses to stage its basketball tournament games in Oregon, due to the NCAA's long-standing opposition to gambling. As a result, Oregon hasn't played host to an NCAA men's basketball tournament since 1983.

A bill pending in the Legislature would open the way for NCAA tournaments in Oregon by eliminating Sports Action and forbidding the Oregon Lottery from creating games tied to the outcome of sport events.

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Kevin Cameron, R-Salem, argues there is greater revenue to be had from NCAA tournaments than from what the state has been earning from its pro football pool.

Oregon's tourism economy would get a big boost from NCAA tourneys, he says.

"If you bring people from out of state to a tournament at the Rose Garden in Portland, they will see that we have a great convention center and a beautiful city," says Cameron, a restaurant owner.

Cameron has the backing of the House Republican leadership as well as the influential Oregon Restaurant Association.

Besides the thousands of NCAA fans who would come to the state for the tournaments, spending money on hotels, bars and restaurants, millions more people would get a look at Oregon during televised games, they say.

"When they do the TV commercial breaks, they would probably show scenes of Crater Lake and Mount Hood. It would be great advertising for the state," says Bill Perry, spokesman for the restaurant group.

The 1989 Legislature created the Sports Action game as part of an effort to expand the Oregon Lottery's offerings to produce more money for schools and other programs. The Lottery is expected to produce _$900 million in revenue for the state in the next two years, most of it from video poker and video slot games.

By comparison, the Sports Action game has been a low-stakes affair. Last NFL season, the game generated sales of about _$11 million, of which about _$2 million went to intercollegiate athletics.

In the game, players fill out a playslip and can bet anywhere from _$2 to _$20 on that week's NFL games. Prizes generally range from _$10 to _$100.

In 2003, the lottery also added Scoreboard, a game in which bettors match randomly selected numbers to the scores of NFL games.

Backers of the bill to abolish sports betting games said while the games were a well-intentioned move to help intercollegiate athletics, Oregon's economy could reap more than _$125 million in the next 15 years by hosting NCAA tournaments.

"We've talked with the NCAA, and they would love to be able to see Oregon bid for a tournament," said Drew Mahalic of the Oregon Sports Authority, which works to attract sporting events to Oregon.

If the Legislature gets rid of Sports Action, Mahalic said, the state could be in line for a men's basketball tournament as soon as 2008.

The NCAA sponsors 88 championships in 23 sports each year, and Oregon over the years has played host to some of those championships in other sports, such as golf and track and field.

However, the NCAA, which sponsors six men's and women's basketball tournaments around the country each year, has avoided Oregon for those events because it believes basketball is the most vulnerable to gambling influences.

A spokesman at the NCAA's office in Indianapolis said the association would welcome the demise of Oregon's state-sponsored football betting pool.

In that case, Greg Shaheen said, Oregon "would have every opportunity to bid for championship events."

Shaheen reiterated that the NCAA opposes any state-sanctioned gambling on professional or college sporting events because it could raise doubts about whether the betting influenced the outcome of those events.

Lottery spokesman Chuck Bauman said the lottery is neutral on the issue and will let the Legislature decide whether to eliminate the Sports Action game.

While there appears to be no organized opposition to the bill, one possible sticking point involves finding a replacement for the money intercollegiate athletics would lose if the Sports Action game is eliminated.

Cameron's bill would earmark 1 percent of overall lottery revenue to academic scholarships and athletic departments at the state's public universities.

That would produce about _$9 million for intercollegiate athletics, more than twice what they receive now from Sports Action.

Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski sees merit in the idea of getting rid of Sports Action, a spokesman said. But the governor is worried that dedicating 1 percent of lottery revenue to intercollegiate athletics would leave less lottery money available for Oregon's local schools and other programs, spokesman James Sager said.

Cameron, for his part, said he thinks the Legislature will be able to find a way to eliminate the Sports Action and replace the money college sports programs now get from the game.

"I want to be able to go to the Rose Garden or to stadiums in Corvallis or Eugene three or four years from now to enjoy an NCAA tournament. That's the goal," the Salem lawmaker says.

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