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?
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McCain Offers NCAA Gaming Instead of Gambling
One of Senator John McCain's problems in Nevada had been his strong and vocal opposition to
amateur sports betting. In 2001 McCain wrote:
"Not only does the Las Vegas betting clearinghouse send a confusing message
about the propriety and legality of amateur sports gambling, the publication
throughout the country of Las Vegas-generated point spreads fuels illegal
gambling in the judgment of the NGISC, and steals victories from young athletes
who manage to beat their opponents but not the spread."
Interestingly, on the McCain 2008 site, as a candidate, McCain demonstrates
a more relaxed view offering "McCain Basketball Bracket." The set up looks
familiar to anyone who has ever seen an office pool. By the way, McCain picks
North Carolina to go all the way with a final score of 157. That number, of
course, is for tiebreakers, and McCain does not seem concerned that, as he
writes of point spreads, that this extraneous tiebreaker number "steals
victories from young athletes who manage to beat their opponents but not the
spread." So here is how the McCain gaming (not gambling, but an actual game)
NCAA experience works. Supporters and fans enter their picks for the
tournament against McCain's choices, and winners get prizes like a "the McCain
fleece," hat or pin. Obviously this is not exactly gambling but still a strange
recreation for someone who titled his 2001 article "It's Past Time to Ban
Amateur Sports Gambling" and was so worried about even the "propriety" of the issue
Local gambling expert Anthony Curtis, asked by the Buffet to look
at McCain's NCAA game, put it this way: "It's not gambling, because no one's
risking anything. But it treads close enough that I think it's a curious thing
for him to do. I think any contest like that, even though it's not using
pointspreads, trades on the idea of gambling. Again, I find it curious that he'd
go there."
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