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Sen. Reid and Sen. Ensign Aim to Stop College Bet Ban8 December 2000WASHINGTON – Dec. 8, 2000 – As reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal: "Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen.-elect John Ensign, R-Nev., announced Thursday their top priority in next year's Congress will be to stop a bill aimed at banning Nevada casinos from taking bets on college sports. "Their opposition to nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain will take a back seat to efforts to kill the sports betting ban, even though there is no consensus on the best way to fight the legislation. "…Legal sports betting is a $2.3 billion-a-year industry in Nevada -- the only state to offer it at casinos -- with about $650 million wagered on college sports. Illegal sports gambling in the United States has been estimated at $80 billion to $380 billion annually. "Proponents of the ban fear that college sports wagering entices young athletes to throw games for thousands of dollars a pop. "Casino industry executives counter by arguing that Nevada sports books handle just 1 percent of the bets placed yearly by Americans. And if Congress were to shut down the state's sports betting operations, they argue, that money would simply shift to illegal bookmakers and offshore Internet wagering operations. "…The House Judiciary Committee approved its version of the betting ban on Sept. 13 but the measure never made it to the House floor because of GOP resistance. A similar version sailed through the Senate Commerce Committee on April 13, but Reid and Bryan blocked efforts to schedule a vote on the Senate floor…" |