For more than two years, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been pushing legislation that would prohibit betting on college and amateur sports in the United States, and all indications are that he'll have another run at it when the Senate reconvenes next month.
The impetus for such a bill comes from recent betting scandals and point shaving incidents within college sports. Many opponents of the bill, however, feel that outlawing betting on college sports would only create more opportunity for organized crime and illegal bookmaking. Some argue, for example, that recent betting scandals at Northwestern University and Arizona State would never have been discovered if it wasn't for the stringent laws governing sports betting in Nevada. Had the bettors not tried to pump large amounts of bets through legal sports books, they say, their activities could have gone undetected.
Nevertheless, the charge goes on, and I-gaming businesses, as they have for two years, continue to speculate what the legislation means, if anything, to their industry.
We asked veteran Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist Dan Walsh:
What are the McCain bill's chances of passing and what are the implications for the interactive gaming industry?
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"The McCain bill has a strange relationship with the Internet gaming bill."
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Dan Walsh - While it's not impossible that the McCain bill would become law, I'd call it a long shot. First of all, when it was considered in McCain's Commerce Committee in 2001, the votes weren't really there for it.
Sen. Ensign of Nevada offered an amendment to gut the bill, and it failed on a 10-10 tie vote, only because one senator, who would have supported the amendment, couldn't make it to the markup.
It was never scheduled for floor consideration in the Senate, because nobody wanted to deal with the issue, and neither the House Judiciary Committee nor the House Republican leadership gave it any consideration. It's hard to see how it could get through the entire process and make it to the President's desk.
The McCain bill has a strange relationship with the Internet gaming bill. On the one hand, when Vegas argues against the bill, they say that it would merely drive amateur sports betting underground and offshore; thus it creates an impetus to go after Internet gaming.
On the other hand, however, one reason the AGA (American Gaming Association) doesn't want Internet gaming legislation to move is their fear that McCain might try to attach amateur sports wagering legislation to it.
I can see a situation where the House Republican leadership might refuse to move the Amateur Sports bill, but might offer the anti-gambling folks an Internet gaming bill instead. It's hard to predict at this point.
Dan Walsh is a vice president for Williams Mullen Strategies, the lobbying arm of the Williams Mullen law firm. In his capacity Walsh is a chief lobbyist for the Interactive gaming industry. Before joining WMS, Walsh worked for nine years on Capitol Hill. During that time, he held senior legislative posts with different House Republican members, with his final years spent as legislative director for Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD). Walsh worked closely with the membership organization for moderate House Republicans and handled a variety of issues including trade, environment, telecommunications and transportation. Throughout his career, he has become a specialist in representing the interests of large multinational corporations, specifically before the Energy & Commerce and Judiciary Committees. Since moving to the private sector, he has built a strong reputation and practice in the areas of telecommunications and technology.
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