NCAA Wants Its Games Off the Board

The NCAA is taking its case to Congress, hoping for a nationwide law banning gambling on college sports.

“I think this is a very troublesome issue for us,” Sen. Richard Bryan (D-Nev.) said Wednesday. “If the NCAA rallies the college presidents, alumni associations and other academic groups, I think this could be a very difficult issue for us to deal with.”

An NCAA representative met Tuesday with anti-gambling interests to pitch a proposal that would ban college sports betting in the four states where it is now legal. Nevada is the only state operating legal sports books, which take bets on college and professional sports.

Doris Dixon, director of federal relations for the NCAA, says casino interests contributed almost $6 million to federal campaigns last year. She said the NCAA is prohibited from making campaign contributions.

“We’re just trying to evaluate whether the voice of a college president is louder than$6 million,” she said Wednesday.

Nevada’s 138 legal sports books took in $2.3 billion in sports wagers in fiscal 1999, earning nearly $99 million, according to Brian Duffrin, a spokesman for the state Gaming Control Board.

The state does not break out percentages on college vs. professional sports betting. But Jason Been, an oddsmaker at Las Vegas Sports Consultants, estimated that 40% of the betting is on college sports.

Dixon said the anti-gambling group at Tuesday’s meeting included religious leaders and family organizations. She expressed concerns about the influence of special interests in Congress “and how their influence and money restricts the free and open discussion of gambling issues.”

Bryan said Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) promised to introduce the NCAA bill, which would prohibit legalized betting on college sports.

“The bottom line is we think it’s unseemly to bet on teenagers and their games,” Dixon said. “We want to make sure there’s a clear message that this country does not tolerate in any form, betting on kids.”

William Saum, an NCAA representative, told the National Gambling Impact Study Commission in a November 1998 meeting here that students can easily find bookies on campus.

“Why don’t they focus on illegal gambling?” Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said.