[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 25, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7509-S7511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE LOOPHOLE IN COLLEGE GAMBLING

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I want to make a few remarks on an 
issue very important to our young student athletes, as well as our 
colleges and universities. It is a piece of legislation that, if the 
appropriations continue to be held up on the other side of the aisle, I 
think we should consider. We should go to this piece of legislation.
  The legislation is the Amateur Sports Integrity Act, which was passed 
out of the Commerce Committee by a 16-2 vote. There was strong 
bipartisan support for the legislation and introduction of the bill. 
Senator Leahy and I introduced the bill. Basically, the legislation 
closes the one loophole on college gambling.
  Presently, you cannot gamble legally in this country on college 
athletics. You can't bet on the Road to the Final Four, the NCAA 
basketball tournament, football and bowl games--except in one State in 
the country, and that is Nevada. That is what has led to a number of 
problems we have had of expanded sports gambling on amateur athletics 
and expanded cases where student athletes have fallen to the whims of 
people promising them some help if they will shave a point or two off 
the game. So we are trying to close that one loophole in Nevada so it 
is clear that it is illegal to bet on college sports in the United 
States.
  This bipartisan legislation is in direct response to a recommendation 
made by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, which last year 
concluded a 2-year study on the impact of legalized gambling on our 
country. The recommendation called for a ban on all legalized gambling 
on amateur sports and is supported by the NCAA, coaches, teachers, 
athletic directors, commissioners, university presidents, school 
principals, and family groups from across the country. Those groups are 
all strongly supportive of this legislation.
  In my home State, Roy Williams, the basketball coach at the 
University of Kansas, considered taking the job at North Carolina but 
decided against it--happily, in my opinion. He is a strong proponent of 
this legislation. These are the people supporting this who know about 
the threat of gambling on amateur athletics. These are the people who 
are fighting the problem on the front lines 24 hours a day. These 
groups support our legislation which will prohibit all legalized 
gambling on high

[[Page S7510]]

school and college sports, as well as the Summer and Winter Olympic 
Games.
  The Nation's college and university system is one of our greatest 
assets. We offer the world the model for postsecondary education. But 
sports gambling has become a black eye on too many colleges and 
universities.
  Gambling on the outcome of sporting events tarnishes the integrity of 
sports and diminishes the esteem in which we and the rest of the world 
hold U.S. postsecondary institutions. This amendment would deal with 
that problem. It would remove the ambiguity that surrounds gambling on 
college sports and make it clearly illegal in all 50 States in the 
United States.
  We should not gamble with the integrity of our colleges or the future 
of our college athletes. Our young athletes deserve legal protection 
from the seedy influences of the gambling, and fans deserve to know 
that athletic competitions are honest and fair.

  Gambling scandals involving student athletes have become all too 
common over the past 10 years. In fact, there have been more gambling 
scandals in our colleges and universities in the 1990s than in every 
other decade before it combined. These scandals are a direct result of 
an increase in gambling on amateur sports.
  It was just 2 years ago, during the Final Four, that we learned of 
the point-shaving scandal at Northwestern University involving their 
men's basketball team. This scandal involved both legal and illegal 
gambling on several Northwestern games. Kevin Pendergast, a former 
Notre Dame place kicker who orchestrated the basketball point-shaving 
scandal at Northwestern University, has stated--and I think this is 
clear, and it points to where we have a problem and why this is a 
problem and something we should take care of. In other States, it is 
illegal. Here is what the guy who masterminded that point-shaving case 
at Northwestern said:

       My relationship with sports gambling continued off and on 
     and ended with a $20,000 bet placed in a sports book in Las 
     Vegas. This was part of three basketball games that have been 
     mentioned by Senator Brownback in the Northwestern point-
     shaving incident. The majority of the monies wagered in these 
     games were legally wagered in Nevada. And by legally wagered, 
     I mean you walk up to the sports book and place a bet on one 
     team or the other. Now it was obviously illegal because of 
     what was going on behind the scenes, but like I said, the 
     majority of the monies wagered in this situation were wagered 
     in a legal manner in sports casinos in Nevada.

  That was the big case that broke 2 years ago. He went to a number of 
college athletes and said, ``We are not talking about losing the game. 
Don't lose the game. We just want you not to win it by as much as the 
margin.''
  That is what we are talking about--the point spread. We will be able 
to wager money on the game, and if you are ahead by five points and the 
margin says six on it, just don't score. We are learning, as we have 
gone through hearings, that you don't do this on offense; you do it on 
defense. If you want to shave points, it is not that you miss the free 
throw or the shot; you actually let your player get by you on an 
offensive move. It is less obvious to the other people watching that 
that is something that is going on. So actually people have thought 
this through quite a bit on how you allow shaving to take place.
  That is what Kevin Pendergast said on this one particular case that 
broke 2 years ago.
  In fact, the last two major point shaving scandals involved legalized 
gambling in Las Vegas sports books. The point-shaving scandal involving 
Arizona State University is believed to involve more money than any 
other sports gambling case in the history of intercollegiate athletics 
and involved legalized gambling and organized crime.
  A study recently conducted by the University of Michigan found that 
84 percent of college referees said they had participated in some form 
of gambling since beginning their careers as referees. Nearly 40 
percent also admitted placing bets on sporting events and 20 percent 
said they gambled on the NCAA basketball tournament. Two referees said 
they were aware of the spread on a game and that it affected the way 
they officiated the contest. Some reported being asked to fix games 
they were officiating and others were aware of referees who ``did not 
call a game fairly because of gambling reasons.'' Just a few months 
ago, newspaper articles from Las Vegas and Chicago detailed how illegal 
and legal gambling are sometime interconnected.
  I get irritated sometimes at the referees in games. But if I thought 
there was anything going on where they were gambling on the games and 
that it was affecting their calls, imagine how poisonous this would be 
to them and to the integrity of the sport that is taking place.
  The National Gambling Impact Study Commission Report recognized the 
potential harm of legalized gambling by stating that sports gambling 
``can serve as gateway behavior for adolescent gamblers, and can 
devastate individuals and careers.'' Some of its findings include:
  More than 5 million Americans suffer from pathological gambling;
  Another 15 million are ``at risk'' for it; and
  About 1.1 million adolescents, ages 12 to 17, or 5 percent of 
America's 20 million teenagers engage in severe pathological gambling 
each year.
  According to the American Psychiatric Association:
  Pathological gambling is a chronic and progressive psychiatric 
disorder characterized by emotional dependence, loss of control and 
leads to adverse consequences at school and at home;
  Teens are more than twice as vulnerable to gambling addictions than 
adults because they are prone to high-risk behaviors during 
adolescence; and
  Ninety percent of the nation's compulsive gamblers start at an 
adolescent age;
  According to the Minnesota Council on Compulsive Gambling, gambling 
on sporting events is a favorite preference of teenage gamblers.
  We are talking about the gateway behavior, the pathological gambling, 
and 90 percent of it starts as teenagers. Where does it generally 
start? One of the favorite gateways is sports gambling.
  Opponents of our legislation have tried to discredit our efforts by 
insisting that we should be focusing our efforts on curbing illegal 
gambling, not legal. I agree that we should be looking at ways to help 
law enforcement and institutions for higher education combat illegal 
gambling. The NCAA has undertaken numerous steps to combat gambling 
among student athletes and stated during the Commerce Committee hearing 
its intention to do even more.
  I want to list some of the steps they proposed and are doing.
  They are sponsoring educational programs for student athletes, 
including development of a sports wagering video; partnershiping with 
several professional organizations; assisting in bringing Federal and 
local enforcement officers to camps across the country; continuing to 
broadcast antisports gambling through public service announcements 
during NCAA championship games aired on CBS and CNN, most recently 
aired 18 times during the 2000 basketball championship games, and will 
continue to run during championship games this year.
  They developed a ``don't-bet-on-it booklet,'' created in partnership 
with the National Endowment for Financial Education to educate students 
about the dangers of sports gambling and to acquaint them with good 
financial management strategies.
  They distributed these to at least 325,000 NCAA students.
  The NCAA established policies that prohibit gambling on professional 
or college sports by college athletic personnel, student athletes, 
athletic conferences, and NCAA employees.
  They prohibit student athletes from competing if they knowingly 
provide information to individuals concerning games.
  They prohibit student athletes from competing if they solicit a bet 
on any intercollegiate game, or if they accept a bet on any 
intercollegiate team, or if they accept a bet on any team representing 
the institution, or participate in any gambling activity that involves 
an intercollegiate athlete through a book maker, or any other method 
employed by organized gambling.
  They have instituted background checks on men and women basketball

[[Page S7511]]

officials to try to deal with the study that I just mentioned by the 
University of Michigan about the number of referees who have been 
involved in gambling.
  The NCAA has been working in partnership with the National 
Association of Student Personnel and Administrators on implementation 
of on-campus surveys aimed at obtaining data related to gambling 
behavior of college students. The goal is to enlist 50 institutions to 
participate in the project. I hope the results will be available later 
this year.
  The NCAA is working with several of the largest athletic conferences 
to assist in the development of comprehensive research on student 
athletic gambling behavior. They have other programs they are working 
with as well.
  My point in mentioning all of that is there were charges made at the 
hearing in the Commerce Committee that the NCAA isn't doing enough. I 
agree. They are not. They are not stepping up and doing more. That 
should not be an excuse for us not doing what is right here, which is 
to ban the gambling on student sports. We shouldn't be subjecting our 
student athletes to this type of pressure.
  Opponents have claimed that this is a state issue, not a federal one. 
This argument doesn't hold water. Congress already determined this is a 
federal issue with the passage of Professional and Amateur Sports 
Protection Act (PASPA) in 1992. Ironically, while Nevada is the only 
state where legal gambling on collegiate and Olympic sporting events 
occurs, Nevada's own gaming regulations prohibit gambling on any of 
Nevada's teams because of the potential to jeopardize the integrity of 
those sporting events.
  If it is good for the goose, it is good for the gander. This should 
be banned everywhere.
  During a press conference on my legislation earlier this year I 
encouraged colleges and universities from across the country to ask the 
Nevada Gaming Control Board to prohibit any wagers from being 
``accepted or paid by any book'' on their respective athletic teams in 
Nevada. Unfortunately, the board refused the NCAA's request, stating 
that ``the same level of protection is already extended within each of 
these states.'' What they failed to mention was that no state, except 
for Nevada, allows betting on college teams from other states. The 
frequency of gambling scandals over the last decade is a clear 
indication of legal gambling of college sports stretching beyond the 
borders of Nevada, impacting the integrity of States' sporting events 
in other places.

  I said to the Nevada Gaming Control Board: If you take UNLV off the 
books, allow a way for the University of Kansas and Kansas State 
University to get off the books. Let our board of regents petition the 
Nevada Gaming Board that if they don't want to be on the books, Kansas 
State University can be pulled off, the Governor can send a letter 
officially requesting, or the legislature can even pass a resolution 
saying the request be pulled off the books. Give us a way out to 
protect the integrity of our universities.
  They denied the request. They said they would not do it because if we 
wanted out, there will be a whole bunch more who want out. Should that 
not tell us something right there, as well?
  I am a strong advocate of States rights. However, States rights meet 
a State's authority to determine how best to govern within that State's 
own borders; they do not have a right to impact the integrity of Kansas 
sporting events. They do not have the authority to set laws allowing a 
State to impose its policies on every other State while exempting 
itself. Gambling on college sports, both legal and illegal, threatens 
the integrity of the game. That threat extends beyond any one State's 
borders.
  I realize a ban on collegiate sports gambling will not eliminate all 
gambling on college sports. However, as Coach Calhoun stated in his 
testimony during the hearing: It is a starting point.
  It is an important starting point. This is exactly what this 
legislation is about, a beginning. It will send a clear signal to our 
communities and, more importantly, a clear message to our kids: 
Gambling on student athletics is wrong and threatens the integrity of 
college athletes.
  I believe it is important that every Senator voting on this 
legislation should ask him or herself this question: Is it unseemly and 
wrong to bet on kids? I think so. If enacted, there will be no 
ambiguity about whether it is legal or illegal to bet on college 
sports. As part of a broader strategy to resensitize the public to the 
problems associated with college sports gambling, this will make a 
difference. We should not wait for another point-shaving scandal in 
order to act. There will be another point-shaving case that will come 
down. Given the amount of money--over $1 billion bet each year on 
college sports--there will be another point-shaving case that will 
occur.
  Mr. President, if the minority, if the Democrat side, chooses to 
continue to hold up legislation on appropriations bills, I think this 
would be a good time to go take up this bill. I think it would be 
appropriate. I think it would be a good time to take it up.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Enzi). The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent I be given 10 
minutes to speak in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________