American professional and collegiate athletics have long been susceptible to forms of abuse, scandal, and illegal activities. With the recent hearings of Roger Clemens of the New York Yankees and his possible abuse of illegal enhancers, one may have little doubt as to where our professional “pastimes” are headed.  However, after members of Congress received a letter from the major professional and collegiate athletic leagues and associations, perhaps not all decency and integrity in American professional athletics is lost.

The National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL), and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), all expressed their deep concern for legislation that is seeking to allow the legalization of gambling.  A letter outlining their strong opposition to such legislation urged members of Congress to reject such ideas. They reasoned, “Sports gambling threatens both the actual and perceived integrity of athletic contests.  It places athletes, coaches and other team personnel, as well as game officials, at risk of pressure and threats from gamblers and organized crime to affect the outcome of a game or reveal confidential information.”  They also argued that the legalization of gambling “lures young people into acceptance of a gambling lifestyle and undermines the family-friendly character of athletic events.”  

The letter specifically calls out Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Washington) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) on their pro-gambling efforts.  H.R. 2046, the “Internet Gambling Legalization Bill,” and H.R. 2607, the “Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act” would essentially lay the foundation of a “comprehensive scheme for overriding state and federal gambling restrictions and licensing Internet gambling so that the federal government may profiteer from this vice.”    

The letter points out that while McDermott’s bill includes the word “regulation” in the title, no real regulations or safeguards are to be implemented.  In fact, “The McDermott Internet gambling bill contains no safeguards to preserve state gambling laws, to make sure the Federal ban on sports gambling is enforced, or to make sure that minors are not gambling online.”

Major concerns with this legislation include not only congressional approval for the practice of gambling to be integrated with American athletics for the first time in our nation’s history, but the restriction and undermining of each state’s enforcement and regulation of gambling.  

Internationally, this bill could also pose serious problems.  The current nature of our commitments with the World Trade Organization, with whom we are in the process of securing trade agreements, prohibits gambling.  The passage of McDermott’s or Frank’s bills could be a serious roadblock to those trade agreements.