College sports wagering: A case study about gambling on college athletics and the motivations and consequences surrounding legislation wanting to ban wagering on college sports

摘要

Sports wagering is the largest form of gambling in the world. In the United States, the practice is largely illegal. Nonetheless, it has sustained incredible growth both legally and illegally throughout the twentieth century. Current legislation in Congress would revise a 1992 federal law that banned legal sports wagering in this country with the exemption of four particular states, Nevada included. The state of Nevada is the only place in which wagering on college sports is legally practiced. The State of Oregon runs a small sports betting game out if its lottery. Proponents of the legislation suggest that passage is necessary in order to protect student-athletes and to remove the “unseemly influence” sports wagering has on amateur athletes and the games they play. Conversely, opponents of the legislation declare the problem of college and other youth gambling stems from illegal betting on campuses and elsewhere, not from legal wagering in Nevada, which is closely regulated, policed, and taxed. They argue that there is no compelling evidence that illegal betting will be reduced by banning wagering on legal sports betting, particularly when 98 to 99 percent of all sports wagering is already illegal. The purpose of this case study is to examine the issue of college sports wagering in the context of the existing legislation wanting to ban it.