|
March
Bill seeks to legalize betting on sports
Pawtucket Times, RI - Mar 15, 2006
Pawtucket Rep. William San Bento has legislation that might interest
you. He would like to legalize sports betting at Lincoln Park and
Newport Grand, the two slot machine parlors operated by the state.
San Bento said that out in Las Vegas, the only place where sports
betting currently takes place, "When you walk into the sports
books, it’s amazing to see the amount of money being wagered.
They are wagering on everything from baseball to camel races in
Istanbul. Millions of dollars are wagered."
He said he introduced the bill, "because I want to start talking
about making Rhode Island an exempt state and I want to see Rhode
Island get a cut of this gambling money - not to make bookies rich
but to support the government programs and services that all our
citizens rely upon,"
"My thought process is, we have two venues right now in Lincoln
and Newport, let’s give them sports betting." San Bento
told The Times. "We have a budget shortfall. It will help us
financially. Why shouldn’t we go after that revenue?"
"People who gamble now go offshore to wager," he said.
"I know they are wagering through the Internet."
Internet betting would not be permissible under San Bento’s
bill.
"We have two venues, if you wanted to bet, you would have
to go to those two venues," the Fairlawn Democrat said. "Remember,
right now you can go to those venues and place a bet on a horse
race or a dog race" run at tracks across the country through
the simulcast system.
A major stumbling block to San Bento’s idea is that it would
violate current federal law.
The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 forbids
gambling on sports events. But four states where sports betting
was already legal were exempted - Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware.
Currently, only Nevada actually operates sports betting, although
Oregon has a lottery game.
"I’m going to send letters out to our congressional
delegation and I am going to ask them to see what they can do about
exempting Rhode Island from that federal law so that we can do sports
betting," San Bento said. "That will help with our budget
shortfall.
While he realizes it may be impossible to go up against federal
law or to make a case for Rhode Island to be exempt, San Bento says:
"I still think it’s worth a shot, to at least get it
on the table and discuss the possibility."
"How many options do we have to raise revenue to address our
budgetary problems?" San Bento asked in a written statement.
"Sports betting gives us an opportunity to take the money out
of the hands of illegal bookies and use it to help our state and
its citizens."
"And while it is just commonly accepted that sports betting
is legal only in Nevada," he said, "my question is, Why
should that state have the chance to reap enormous benefits from
legalized sports gaming when Rhode Island can’t? That unfairness
and state favoritism seem to be good reasons to challenge the federal
law."
"We all know there are people in Rhode Island betting on sports,
and that federal law is not stopping it, simply because it is impossible
to stop it," San Bento noted. "By allowing sports book
at Lincoln and Newport, we would see our state benefit, rather than
some bookies, and we might even help cut down on illegal activity."
"I’m sure the governor will come out against it and
all the groups that are opposed to gaming," he said. "But
we are going to have to stay ahead of the curve in Rhode Island
because if Massachusetts opens up slots at its track, they could
eat us right up. And it looks like they may get to that point. They
could hurt us. You have BLB that is spending $150 million up in
Lincoln redoing that place. They are going to make it a showplace.
And we also have Newport Grand building a hotel. Let’s give
them an edge."
San Bento was right about the governor.
Spokesman Jeff Neal said, "Governor Carcieri does not support
introducing new types of gambling to Rhode Island. He believes we
have enough as it is."
Source Code: http://www.zwire.com |
