John McCain wants US Congress to address sports betting

Arizona Republican Senator John McCain believes that US sports betting legal agenda needs to be addressed promptly by Congress.

Speaking ahead of Sundays 1 Feb Super Bowl XLIX’s match between the New England Patriots vs Seattle Seahawks, McCain told ESPN News that US sports betting needed to move away from Nevada and into a wider public forum.

At present McCain believes that sports betting laws do not protect US consumers nor serve the Federal system at generating efficient taxes.

“We need to debate this in Congress. We need to have a talk with the American people, and we need to have hearings in Congress on the whole issue so we can build a consensus”.

McCain further argues that US citizens are gambling huge amounts illegally, as The American Gaming Association estimates $138.9 billion was wagered illegally on sports in 2013.

McCain stated that sports betting needs to build state consensus beyond Nevada, the only state which currently allows single-game sports wagering. Delaware, Montana and Oregon have limited forms of sports betting.

“I think that there [are] places for sports gambling in states, where gambling is legal,” McCain said. “We obviously know that there are huge amounts gambled on sporting events, particularly football.”