Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to begin on the topic of sports betting. In May, the Supreme Court cleared the way for any State to legalize sports betting, which had been prohibited in all but a handful of States since 1992. I would like to say upfront, I am not a fan of sports betting. I have grave concerns about gambling in general and sports betting in particular. There is no question that sports betting, like other types of gambling and addictive behavior, has ruined far too many lives. Add to those deleterious social effects the threat sports betting poses to the integrity of the game, and we can see why the prohibition on sports wagering in the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act passed the Senate 88 to 5. I authored this legislation--and fought tooth and nail to get it passed--because I knew that without it, sports gambling would corrupt the integrity of the game. Despite these views, I am also a realist. With the nearly $5 billion annually in legal sports wagers in Nevada, plus an estimated $150 billion a year in illegal sports wagers in the United States, we can't put the genie back in the bottle. Prohibition is not a possibility or a prudent path forward. Instead, now that States are free to legalize sports betting, our goal should be to bring that illegal wagering activity into well- regulated, legal markets that can better protect consumers and the integrity of sports.…”