Sam Brownback: “I want to make a few remarks on an issue very important to our young student athletes, as well as our colleges and…”

“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.”