Sam Brownback: “the reason for me to speak this evening is to comment about an amendment that Senator McCain and myself, along with two…”

“the reason for me to speak this evening is to comment about an amendment that Senator McCain and myself, along with two other Members have as well, that is pending on the DOD authorization bill. I am not raising the amendment tonight, but I want to talk about it because it has been one of some controversy. I want to put forward the issues of why I am so concerned about this issue. It is an amendment that Senator McCain, myself, and two other Members sponsored, Senator Edwards and Senator Voinovich. It is about college gambling--specifically, legalized gambling in America on college athletics, college sports. We have currently in the country, banned everywhere in America betting on college sports, except one State--in Nevada it is allowed. There is legalized betting on college sports. If someone wants to bet on a University of Missouri football game, if they want to bet on a University of Kansas basketball game, there is a legal scoreboard, there is a game spread on it, and there is money laid on the table. It is all legal. The handle is about $1 billion in Nevada each year betting on schools such as the University of Kansas, Kansas State University football, the Final Four. It takes place every year. That has been growing substantially at the level of the handle, and it is going to keep on growing. The problem is it is tarnishing our amateur athletics. It is giving a black eye to college sports.”