le Two of the Act involved a prohibition on gambling on competitive games involving high school and college athletes. Title Two also prohibited betting on the Olympic Games.
In a hearing report on the Amateur Sports Integrity Act dated March 29, 2000, Chairman McCain's indicated in his opening statement that campus gambling is reaching epidemic proportions and that the National Collegiate Athletic Association was one of the bill's most fervent sponsors. Senator McCain introduced the Amateur Sports Integrity Act to close the æLas Vegas loophole.Æ This loophole permits legalized gambling on amateur athletics in Nevada. Senator Bryan, Senator Reid, Representative Gibbons and Representative Berkley disagreed with Senator McCain on the necessity for this legislation and about the efficacy of the law. These members of Congress pointed out that only one or two percent of gambling on college sports takes place in Nevada, so banning lawfully regulated college gambling in Nevada would do little or nothing to address the problem or the potential that student athletes would be tempted to fix games or shave points. Other members of Congress including Senator Brownback, Senator Edwards and Congressman Roemer fully supported this bill. They argued that the bill was not intended to solve all the gambling problems in America, but that this bill would restore some of the integrity that college athletics lost due to recent point shaving scandals. Charles Wethington, President of the University of Kentucky pointed out in his testimony before Congress that while gambling is illegal in almost every state,ápoint spreads on college games were published in newspapers across the country. Charles Wethington (2000) said the NCAA was taking other steps to fight gambling--including a series of "Don't Bet On It" public service announcements during this year's basketball championship; bans on gambling by players, coaches and NCAA personnel; and background ...