Across the U.S., state legislators have plenty of opinions on what to do when it comes to betting on college sports. Virginia Delegate Garrett McGuire hopes he’s found a way to ensure that it directly benefits the very in-state teams that people are wagering on.
McGuire is the chief patron of a bill that would expand legal betting on college sports in Virginia by ending the prohibition on gambling on in-state NCAA Division I schools such as the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and James Madison University. Currently, people in Virginia can only bet on out-of-state teams.
The delegate explained to SBC Americas that he believes authorizing more college betting can be a net positive for the state, as long as it’s done in the right way. To that end, his House Bill 1527 would give every dollar of the additional tax revenue generated from legalized betting on in-state teams directly to those schools’ athletics programs.
“Here in Virginia, we have a ton of great universities and colleges, many of which are Division I and compete at the highest level,” Virginia Tech graduate McGuire said in an interview. “And I was looking for opportunities to inject more revenue into our state university athletic funds. The idea really came from, how can I better position the universities in our state to compete at the highest level? I want us to compete, I want Virginia schools to win national championships, and I know they all need more resources to compete at that level. What can I do?”
Read the full article here.