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http://www.omniture.com --> Mail Tribune Blogs --> --> « Valentine from afar Mardi Gras » The demise of Oregon’s Sports Action Posted by Frank Silow Intimidation and hypocrisy. Those are the two words that come to mind with the demise of Oregon’s Sports Action lottery game. Since 1989, the Oregon lottery has sponsored Sports Action that allowed betting on NFL games. The Oregon legislature capitulated to intimidation tactics by the NCAA, college sports ruling body, to get rid of Sports Action so the state can host NCAA basketball tournament games. For eliminating Sports Action with the end of the 2006-07 NFL season, the Rose Garden in Portland was awarded second round men’s tournament games in March 2009. Why college officials were so concerned if people in Oregon were betting on professional football baffles me. The whole March Madness popularity has been fueled by gambling on these games. Many bars, restaurants and organizations have some type of gambling pool on March Madness. It’s almost become a national pasttime to fill out a bracket. There are many on-line sites where people can wager by filling out brackets. There are also numerous private betting pools throughout the nation on the tournament. All this gambling has created so much interest, March Madness has become one of the premier events in all of sports. Who is cashing in on this popularity? The NCAA. The NBA is holding three days of all-star events this weeekend in, of all places, Las Vegas. There’s no gambling there, or is there? I’ve enjoyed playing Sports Action over the years as have thousands of people throughout the state. Sports Action has been successful, having posted all-time sales records the past two years. For FY 06, Sports Action sales were $12.1 million. Some of the profits from Sports Action go to the athletic departments of the state universities. That money is being replaced from the general lottery profits. The universities will actually get more money, but that is less money that will go to other programs receiving lottery funds. More than the money, it’s taking something away from the people thoughout the state who had fun for almost a six-month span of being able to wager on NFL games. Now they are being denied this enjoyment for an economic boost to Portland every few years. The NCAA is completely hypocritical on its stance against gambling since it is a major beneficiary of gambling on its own college basketball games. And the Oregon state legislature did not stand up for a segment of people who received a lot of enjoyment by being able to have action on NFL games. Fall Sundays will not quite be the same. This entry was posted on Saturday, February 17th, 2007 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Sports Insiders . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site. Leave a Reply Mail Tribune Blogs is proudly powered by WordPress Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS) .