WASHINGTON -- Fresh from a victory this week with Senate passage of his campaign finance reform bill, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., now is turning his attention to another pet issue, gambling on college athletics.
Mark Buse, staff director of the Senate Commerce Committee, said Tuesday that McCain, the panel's chairman, will introduce his long-awaited bill this week to outlaw betting at Nevada sports books on college games.
Buse said he did not know if the committee will hold hearings on the NCAA-backed bill this month. Congress is scheduled to recess for two weeks at the end of this week.
MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said he does not expect McCain to conduct a hearing that will be fair to Nevada's casino industry.
"He is far more interested in demagoguing this issue than in studying it," Feldman said.
Buse said he was "truly disheartened that a spokesman for MGM Mirage would impugn (McCain's) character and motive. The chairman (McCain) always has hearings that are fair and balanced even when he strongly disagrees or agrees with the legislation."
McCain's re-entry into the college sports wagering debate poses perhaps the strongest challenge yet for gambling lobbyists and Nevada's congressional delegation, according to Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association.
"The media magnet for this issue is McCain," Fahrenkopf said. "He is the hottest political member of the Senate with regard to attracting media crowds wherever he goes."
McCain's bill is expected to be similar to legislation offered March 20 in the House by Reps. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Tim Roemer, D-Ind. Both measures aim to eliminate Nevada's exemption from a 1992 law that prohibits legalized betting on professional and amateur sports.
Similar proposals died in the House and Senate during last year's congressional session.
The Nevada congressional delegation proposed alternative legislation Feb. 14 in the House and Senate calling for tougher penalties for illegal gambling and a two-year study of the problem.
Buse said McCain's decision to re-introduce his bill was unrelated to a story in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal about the college sports betting issue. The article described the NCAA's frustration in competing with the gambling industry's financial contributions to members of Congress.
NCAA lobbyist Doris Dixon is quoted as saying she "freaked out" when Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, decided last October to side with Nevada. Dixon said she once thought Hatch would be the lead sponsor of the NCAA bill.
Chris Rosche, Hatch's press secretary, denied the senator flip-flopped. "The senator did not believe the proposal that was forwarded to him by the committee staff was consistent with his earlier position," Rosche said.
In 1992, Hatch helped craft legislation that banned sports betting in all states except Nevada, Delaware, Montana and Oregon. "He is leery of going back on the promise he made then to leave Nevada exempt," Rosche said.
But Hatch has not ruled out eliminating the Nevada exemption in the future, Rosche said. "He just wants to find a way for more comprehensive reform of the problem of illegal gambling," Rosche said.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, who introduced the NCAA bill last year in the Senate, had considered offering it this year as an amendment to the campaign finance reform legislation that passed the Senate Monday by a 59-41 vote.
Brownback said Tuesday he decided to back off after talking to McCain.
"You know, he's been with us strong on this, and he wanted campaign finance just to be a separate issue," Brownback said.
BetandChat, a popular Internet casino portal site, has signed a deal with the leading Internet pay system PayPal that will enable BetandChat users to make payments and deposits on the site through a PayPal account.
BetandChat, which was already set up to accept Visa, MasterCard, and its own prepaid cards, felt PayPal was a perfect fit for the site. "We are sure that this new payment method will significantly improve our client services," Gil Dayagi, President and CEO of BetandChat, said in a statement today. "BetandChat is constantly looking ahead to find new ways to ensure our players of, not only the most exciting gaming experience, but the simplest, most secure and reliable way to make deposits and withdrawals!"
PayPal is no stranger to e-commerce and the Internet. The company has an established relationship with eBay and a host of other sites selling everything from books, music, computers, electronics, fashion, food and more.
The move for BetandChat comes at a time when some traditional credit card companies are trying to shy away from the Internet gaming business.
The transfer of funds within PayPal for gambling purposes is entirely acceptable. In addition to the gambling-friendly environment, PayPal offers a deposit success rate of 100 percent, according to BetandChat.
BetandChat says the system will be advantageous to users as well. With Paypal players don’t have to wait for checks to be mailed since the money is electronically transferred.
PayPal has combined two proven technologies to create this effective and secure system, e-mail and the credit-card network.
Registered users can send payments to anyone with an e-mail address by simply entering the dollar amount on an online form. Once the e-mail is received, the sender's credit card or bank account is debited for the payment amount, and the player's new balance is updated within about one hour.
PayPal is attempting to revolutionize the process of transferring funds by taking extensive measures to ensure transaction security, moving money more quickly, more conveniently and at a lower processing cost.