Sam Brownback: “Another issue I am hopeful of getting in front of the Senate this year is a bill to ban gambling on intercollegiate…”

“Another issue I am hopeful of getting in front of the Senate this year is a bill to ban gambling on intercollegiate athletics. Yesterday the House held a hearing in the Commerce Committee and a markup on a bill to ban gambling on intercollegiate athletics in the United States. There is only one State in which that can occur today. It is in Nevada. There is clearly a problem we need to address. We have had more points shaving scandals in collegiate sports in the decade of the 1990s than all prior decades combined. There is about $1 billion a year bet on our student athletes. It has been a big problem on our college campuses and is growing. We have one State where it is still legal. In all the rest of the States, this is illegal. In order to deal with the problem of collegiate gambling, we need to make the gambling on our kids illegal. Again, currently it is legal in only one State, and that is Nevada. The NCAA is a strong supporter of banning gambling on college sports as are all the coaches.”