Thomas Mott Osborne: “I rise in support of H.R. 556. Like others, I would like to thank the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) for his work; the…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 556. Like others, I would like to thank the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) for his work; the ranking member, the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce); the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte); and others for their leadership. The main reason I am here today is that I am really interested in young people, and I am interested in sports gambling; and of course, Internet gambling has really lead to an explosion of gambling of intercollegiate athletics, and that is one reason why the NCAA, the NFL, and Major League Baseball all support this legislation. College students often run up huge credit card debts on these sites, and this is involved with sports betting. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Internet gambling sites are advertising on Web pages normally visited by children. A child cannot gamble in a casino or race track or any other establishment because of age limits, but some young people are using parents or their own credit cards on these sites. One really alarming statistic I want to mention: it is estimated that 1.1 million adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 are pathological gamblers. This is a higher percentage than adults by age group. Young people become addicted to alcohol, drugs, and gambling more quickly than adults because of psychological and physiological immaturity. So I believe this is especially pernicious and particularly dangerous; and I urge support of this important legislation.”