NCAA wagering in VEGAS update

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WASHINGTON -- Once a top priority of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, legislation to prohibit Nevada sports books from taking bets on amateur athletic events did not figure prominently Monday in a discussion of college sports reform.

NCAA officials and coaches seemed more interested in preventing freshmen from playing on varsity teams and improving graduation rates than on clamping down on sports betting during a meeting of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

NCAA President Myles Brand insisted that a bill by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to impose the betting ban on Nevada sports books remains a priority.

"The bill at this point hasn't gotten to the point where we can really say it's imminent, and until then, I think we've got to work on other aspects," Brand said.

The McCain bill and similar legislation by Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., did not come up during Brand's 45-minute discussion with members of the Knight Foundation.

The foundation's commission on intercollegiate athletics was formed in 1989 to recommend reforms in response to college sports scandals.

Dean Smith, the former basketball coach at the University of North Carolina, said he still supports the proposed betting ban for Nevada sports books.

"They can do the pros," Smith said. "We've had a gambling problem every 10 years since '48."

Terry Holland, former basketball coach at the University of Virginia, said gambling is an epidemic on college campuses and another scandal could create chaos.

"(College) kids do gamble and our athletes associate with them so (the athletes) are very vulnerable," Holland said.

But neither Smith nor Holland mentioned sports betting during their presentations to the Knight Foundation.

Smith urged a rule change that would prevent freshmen from playing on varsity teams. Holland said colleges should spend more money on academics and less on athletics.
 
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Holland and Smith are ignorant, misguided or both on this issue. They reference point shaving scandals. If it happens once every 10 years, is it really worth going nuts about. Moreover, one of the advantages of having legal wagering in Nevada is that it can be regulated. I think the "Hedake" Smith ASU/Wash game problem came to light because an inordinately large amount of $$$$ was bet through Nevada books on the game which sent up some red flags. If that happened today and people in the know were pounding teams offshore, the red flags would not be there. Also, do they really think that a bunch of college kids in North Carolina or Virginia are frequently travelling to Vegas to get big $$$ down on games and then pressuring the atheletes???? Please, if they are betting, they are doing it offshore (or possibly with a local). So banning betting in Vegas will not solve that issue.

As far as I'm concerned it's just another example of some "do gooders" trying to pat themselves on the back and show everyone else how noble they are.
 

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It will work as well as prohibition did. Nobody was drinking during that time were they?
 

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This is such worthless news. The fact that something is on or off the agenda doesn't make a bit of difference because the person that will decide upon it is McCain. He won't give it up just because it isn't priority number one for the NCAA, he has other motives for it. I prefer it when things are in the paper as immediate threats because that is the only way to mobilize any one to this endless list of threats the gaming industry faces.
 

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Wildbill, I agree. When everyone -- in this case, Nevada's congressmen and casino lobbyists -- gets complacent and feels the threat is gone, that's when we're most vulnerable.
 

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I admire McCain as a veteran soldier & person, but his political waffling of recent and this gambling issue make me wonder about him.

He is an admitted LV frequenter that has been spotted at tables(like Bennett @ slots), yet is anti-gambling(sports-betting on NCAA specifically).

Someone needs to explain to him, that you need to either thump your bible all the way, or not at all. Because college kids(athletes over 21 too) can get hooked at the tables, just as easily as hooked by getting down with a local.

Maybe McCain tried the pull-out technique as a teen with his future wife?..Is he pro partial-birth abortion?..no on both accounts I'm sure!

Well, morally gambling's no different..it's all or nothing!

P.S. To any politician that votes one way and lives another way, just want to say nice work on marching young boys to war(I was in NG for 6 yrs) and watching young girls at the strip club, while denying many of them the right to drink or gamble for a few more years(like war or stripper-life isn't as/or more dangerous)..nice hypocrisy!
 

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Hmmm....I wonder who'll be the next Chris Webber?
blueguy.gif
 

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