April
12 2001
Ban bill reaches
Senate
WASHINGTON --
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Thursday reintroduced his bill to
prohibit Nevada sports books from taking bets on college games,
and he plans a fast track to get the legislation to final Senate
votes within a month.
The Senate
Commerce Committee, of which McCain is chairman, has scheduled an
April 26 hearing on the bill as well as alternative legislation
offered by the Nevada congressional delegation.
McCain plans to
schedule committee votes on both bills one week later, committee
sources and lobbyists said. The sessions are expected to attract
national media attention drawn by the topic and by McCain, who has
become a Senate celebrity.
"I am
renewing my effort to finally close the `Las Vegas loophole' that
transforms student athletes into objects to be bet upon,"
McCain said in a news release.
"Adding
unwarranted pressure from corrupting influences to the pressures
that these intensely competitive young people already feel is
unacceptable," he said. "Congress must act to close the
loophole that allows one state to serve as a national
clearinghouse for betting on our youth."
McCain's bill,
which has strong backing by the National Collegiate Athletic
Association, is similar to legislation he sponsored last year that
passed the Senate Commerce Committee but never made it to the
Senate floor for a final vote.
The legislation
would outlaw the sponsorship, operation, advertisement, promotion,
licensing or authorization of any type of gambling on amateur
sports including lotteries and sweepstakes. It also establishes a
grant program to pay for educational substance abuse prevention
and intervention programs.
Sen. Sam
Brownback, R-Kan., who introduced last year's NCAA bill, issued a
statement Thursday saying he will team up again with McCain this
year.
"My
continuing efforts on this issue are in direct response to the
recommendation made by the National Gambling Impact Study
Commission, which in 1999 concluded a two-year study on the impact
of legalized gambling in our country," Brownback said.
Sen. John Ensign,
R-Nev., who serves with McCain on the commerce committee, said he
"will fight this aggressively with every resource that we
have."
Last year, McCain
pushed the NCAA bill through the commerce committee on a
procedural voice vote despite the objections of former Sen.
Richard Bryan, D-Nev.
Ensign said he is
taking precautions to make sure the gambling industry is not
steamrolled in this year's hearing.
"I think it
very much helps having a chairman in the same party," he
said. "So far, (McCain) has been absolutely straight with me.
We will get to present our bill and have our fair share of
witnesses."
The Nevada bill,
offered almost two months ago, calls for stricter enforcement of
existing gambling laws and a national study of illegal gambling
rather than an outright ban on college sports betting.
Sen. Harry Reid,
D-Nev., who hopes to testify at the April 26 hearing, described
the McCain-Brownback bill as a "fig leaf for the NCAA to
cover their problems."
"They have
these huge multibillion dollar contracts with the television
networks, and yet they do nothing in the form of public
information or anything else to prevent illegal gambling,"
Reid said.
Reid declined to
say what he would do as the Senate Democratic whip if the NCAA
bill is sent to the Senate floor. Last year, Reid and Bryan
successfully objected to efforts by Brownback and McCain to
proceed with a floor vote.
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