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Casinos' Fight Against NCAA's Proposed Betting Ban Gets Complicated

The casino industry's fight against the campaign to ban betting on college sports is intensifying on Capitol Hill. But its battle plans are being complicated, even undermined, by developments on the home front.

For the past week, as Congress prepares to adjourn for the year, industry leaders eagerly have been waiting for the National Collegiate Athletic Association's allies in the Senate to introduce a betting ban bill.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., a gaming critic, is considered the most likely author of the bill, which also has attracted interest from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who chairs the Judiciary Committee.

Industry leaders are working behind the scenes to put off any vote on the measure until Congress reconvenes next year. That would give industry officials more time to persuade the Republican leadership that prohibiting sports betting in Nevada would be an economic disaster to the state.

At the same time, however, industry leaders acknowledge that talk of a possible voluntary betting ban on National Basketball Association games as part of efforts to bring a professional basketball franchise to Las Vegas could make life more difficult in the NCAA fight.

"It puts the spotlight on the sports books and makes the fight more complicated," said Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, the industry's Washington lobby.

Added Mike Sloan, chairman of the Nevada Resort Association: "The issue in Washington is going to be very tough. This can't help us."

Sloan, however, said talk of an NBA betting ban appears premature. "This could be another pipe dream," he said of the efforts spearheaded by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman to bring an NBA team here. "There's been no expression of interest from any team about coming here."

Goodman said the NBA merely has opened the door for negotiations with the casino industry about modifying its betting practices on professional games.

He said he personally doesn't believe the industry will agree to a total betting NBA ban, but he had scheduled a meeting with NBA officials Friday afternoon to discuss alternatives.

So far, the sports books are nowhere close to being united on giving up NBA betting. Most are opposed. Only Mirage Resorts, which is backing the mayor's efforts, has said it would consider a ban if it means landing an NBA franchise.

Recently, Bill Bible, the NRA's new president, told the Sun that he didn't believe the sports books could ever present a unified position on the subject.

But another veteran casino insider said just talk of possible dual positions on betting creates a "huge perception problem" for the industry. "It's a contradiction that our opponents in the NCAA will bring to the front of the mix," the insider said.

One key NCAA official already has spoken out.

"From our perspective, it doesn't hang together," said Bill Saum, the NCAA's director of agent and gambling activities. "It sounds to me that it's a financial decision. It shouldn't be a financial decision. It should be what's right and wrong."

Saum added: "We should focus here on what's best for our young people in America."

Goodman doesn't share the opinion that the industry may be undermining itself in the fight against the NCAA by throwing the NBA into the mix.

He said NBA Commissioner David Stern has acknowledged that sports betting is well regulated here and that sends a positive message to the rest of the country, including the NCAA.

"The bottom line really is that there's no better litmus test than our regulations because if there's a blip, we can advise the authorities and they can investigate it," Goodman said.

Another issue, meanwhile, may soon surface to complicate the industry's battle with the NCAA.

Casino leaders fear the pending money laundering indictment of politically connected gambler Billy Walters will create more national attention about the way Nevada sports books conduct their business.

"It will draw attention to the amount of money coming into the books from the rest of the country," an industry source said. "We'll be airing our dirty laundry in public."

Walters, who has denied wrongdoing, has been indicted twice before, but both cases were tossed out by a district judge. He has been informed that he again is a target of a county grand jury gearing up to take action against him.

Law enforcement authorities believe Walters is involved in one of the largest betting rings in the country.

But Walters, a well-known golf course developer, has accused the attorney general's office, which is spearheading the probe, of unfairly singling out his gambling activities.

Saum, meanwhile, said the NCAA remains committed to getting a bill to prohibit betting on college sports introduced in the Senate before this week's recess.

"Our position hasn't changed," Saum said. "We believe we've come out on the right side of this."

Mirage Resorts Vice President Alan Feldman disagreed.

"They should be spending more time on illegal bookmaking," Feldman said. "They're trying to deflect attention away from the real issue that the NCAA has done absolutely nothing about the problem of campus gambling."

Fahrenkopf said his group has been voicing its opposition with Senate leaders.

Two key players -- Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, -- are expected to be among those approached by the industry. Lott comes from a gaming state and McConnell, the GOP's chief political fund-raiser in the Senate, has been to Las Vegas several times in recent years to collect casino contributions.

Nevada's congressional delegation, meanwhile, is said to be worried about how the NCAA's popularity in Congress will affect the fight.

"This is going to be difficult to contain on the floor," one Washington lawmaker said. "The NCAA has the Good Housekeeping seal in college athletics."

Added Nevada Sen. Richard Bryan: "It will be a cheap date for a lot of members."

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