Legal sports betting shouldn’t be the sole property of Nevada, according to US Senator John McCain (R-AZ). During an interview on Thursday with EPSN Radio (listen here), hosts Andy Katz and Rick Klein asked McCain whether Nevada’s monopoly on legal sports betting in the US was appropriate. McCain said the hosts had “an excellent point and that’s why it is a national issue.”
McCain said he had “no problem” with the idea that states which had already authorized legal gambling, including on Indian reservations, should have the option of offering legal sports bets as well. McCain said “we need a debate in Congress. We need to have a talk with the American people and we need to probably have hearings in Congress on the whole issue so that we can build consensus.”
McCain’s stance will be welcomed by New Jersey’s federal representatives, who have been proposing legislation for three years running that would lift the 1992 PASPA federal prohibition on single-game sports wagers outside Nevada but their efforts have up to now gone largely unnoticed by their Washington peers. The American Gaming Association (AGA) recently stated that the betting prohibition was “clearly failing” and even National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver has been beating the drum for a federal rethink of Nevada-only betting.
McCain, a known fan of craps games, qualified his betting support by saying he was against online betting, whether on sports or other forms of gambling like poker (although he does enjoy the free-play variety). McCain also voiced concerns over how to protect gamblers from “corruptive influences that could take advantage.”
Finally, McCain said he’s picking the New England Patriots to win this Sunday’s Super Bowl, noting that he had “mixed emotions about [Seahawks cornerback Richard]. Sherman,” given the Seattle team’s rivalry with the Arizona Cardinals.
