Thomas Mott Osborne: “I would like to thank Mr. Gingrey for yielding me time. I also thank Chairman Oxley and Representative Goodlatte for…”

“I would like to thank Mr. Gingrey for yielding me time. I also thank Chairman Oxley and Representative Goodlatte for their work on this bill, and Representative Leach and many others. Mr. Speaker, I would like to emphasize that this is a tremendously important piece of legislation. This is not a filler. This is not something we are just going through the motions on. The reason I say this is that gambling causes poverty. It causes poverty, in many cases, as much as the wage actually paid an individual. It causes family dysfunction. It causes crime, embezzlement, theft. There is nothing that we can do right now at this particular time that I think is more germane to the welfare of families and people in the United States than this legislation. The proliferation of Internet gambling is fueling the growth of illegal sports gambling on college campuses across the country. That is why this legislation is endorsed by the NCAA, the NFL and Major League Baseball. The reason I am coming at it from this perspective is, as a coach for 36 years, I was always very concerned about the impact of gambling on athletics. A 2003 study by the NCAA showed that almost 35 percent of male student athletes engaged in some type of sports wagering behavior in the previous year, and roughly 10 percent of female student athletes did as well. For instance, one athlete reported a $10,000 Internet gambling debt.…”