By Tony Batt
lasvegas.com Gaming Wire
WASHINGTON -- The NCAA’s chief lobbyist told a church conference Sunday she believes Congress will approve a ban on college sports betting at Nevada casinos, but money from the gambling industry is making her task harder than she imagined.
Doris Dixon, who is the NCAA’s director of federal relations, said congressional leaders like Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., have talked to casino industry lobbyists and executives but told her they don’t have time to meet with college football and basketball coaches who support the betting ban.
A call to Lott’s office on Monday was not returned.
“I have to say I believe I was a little naive,” Dixon said. “Gosh, it’s been an experience (seeking support for the NCAA betting ban). They have an unlimited amount of money in Nevada, and believe me, they have been spending it.”
While the NCAA could accept some provisions of an alternative bill offered by the Nevada congressional delegation, Dixon described the bill as subterfuge.
“We are not going to let Nevada hoodwink everybody,” Dixon said.
Dixon made her comments to a session of about 20 people attending a United Methodist legislative and public policy briefing.
The Rev. Tom Grey, a Methodist minister and executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, introduced Dixon.
Grey said the NCAA bill is necessary because sports betting is one of the ways the casino industry is going after the next generation of gamblers. Dixon charged there are 6 million addicted gamblers under the age of 18.
Wayne Mehl, a Washington lobbyist for the Nevada Resort Association, said Monday the only hoodwinking going on is by the NCAA.
“They are trying to equate sports betting in Nevada with all the illegal sports betting in the rest of the country,” Mehl said.
While Nevada sports books take in about $120 million a year, annual revenue estimates on illegal sports betting range from $380 billion to $400 billion, Mehl said. Instead of outlawing college sports betting in Nevada, where it is regulated, the Nevada bill would strengthen law enforcement against illegal gambling.
As of Monday, the Nevada bill included 76 co-sponsors in the House and two in the Senate. The NCAA bill, introduced March 20 by Reps. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Tim Roemer, D-Ind., had 22 co-sponsors in the House. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, have not yet introduced the NCAA bill in the Senate.
And in what appears to be a flip-flop-flip, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is listed as one of the co-sponsors of the NCAA bill in the House.
Frank originally supported the betting ban last year but withdrew one month later. He said he changed his mind after talking to Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. “I think gambling is a legitimate industry, and I am not persuaded that (a ban on college sports betting) would do much good,” Frank said last March.
Neither Frank nor Berkley could be reached Monday.