McCain's straight talk twists on NCAA betting

 

 

John McCain is famous in Las Vegas for leading a five year charge to ban betting on college sports like basketball in Nevada casinos. So, on March 14, I wrote on the Buffet about the apparent hypocrisy of Sen. McCain offering a chance on his web site for supporters to pick the winner of the NCAA men's basketball tournament and, of course, the chance for supporters to compete against the Senator's own picks: the winners getting lots of McCain swag. The next day, March 15, the Review-Journal turned my point into a front page section story. Today, the Review-Journal finally has the Senator's hair splitting explanation of the difference: "I think there is a great deal of difference between setting up a a Web site just like there's office pools all over America that have no benefit to the person (organizing the game)." So, he only objects now to the casino getting a cut? Back in the day, McCain, argued that betting money on amateur games would result in the corruption of college sports, and he has repeatedly predicted a gambling scandal in this area. So, I am confused: what does that objection have to do with Nevada casinos organizing the taking of the bets for profit? It isn't the resorts that are going to bribe any players or cheat any customers. They are heavily regulated. Couldn't corruption just as easily come from illegal betting? As to his earlier legislation McCain now says of it: "Legislation that I proposed said that everything is legal as long as someone doesn't gain from it." Well, how much would you pay for a McCain Fleece or a McCain hat? And, more importantly, is McCain clueless that office pools across the country tend to be all about betting money and paying a winner quite well (not to mention that the office pool organizer, say, Joe from distribution, might decide to quietly keep a little commission for his efforts)? Are office pools even legal in most states? According to the Review-Journal, following Senator Straight Talk's twisted explanation of his NCAA picking game with prizes on the Web site he "declined to take further questions on the subject." So, it seems from the information given thus far, that the Senator is saying we should place our NCAA betting money in office pools and/or "games" on Web sites, instead of betting in a legal and regulated casino's sports book. This will avoid corruption?