The National Collegiate Athletics Association is continuously plagued by the influence of gambling on college athletics.

Over the summer, another NCAA school suffered an embarrassment when the University of Washington fired football coach Rick Neuheisel for participating in a high-stakes NCAA basketball-tournament gambling pool.

At the height of last spring’s NCAA basketball tournament, a team of bipartisan U.S. representatives introduced a bill that would ban all forms of gambling on collegiate sports. Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., and Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., created the Student Athlete Protection Act, which would ban gambling on all high school, college and Olympic sports.

Kind was a quarterback during his time at Harvard University, and Osborne coached the University of Nebraska football team for 36 years, winning three national titles.

Betting on college sports is technically illegal outside of casinos, even though the NCAA Final Four basketball games are likely wagered upon more than any other sporting event. This act would outlaw gambling on games entirely.

Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach and current University of South Carolina football coach, testified in front of a Congressional subcommittee about the necessity of antigambling legislation.

“People have come up to me and said, ‘Coach, you had a great season, you went 10-2.’ I said, ‘I didn’t go 10-2,’ but they said, ‘Yes, you did, against the point spread.’ I’ve been cheered after a loss because I beat the spread,” Holtz said.

Upon introducing the bill last March, Kind said getting the bill turned into law would not be an easy process, due to the powerful gaming interests in states such as Nevada and New Jersey. Several similar bills have withered and died in congressional committees and never came to a vote on the floor of Congress.

Osborne spokeswoman Erin Hagge said the representatives were eager for Congress to return from summer recess so that the idea might be taken up in the new session.

“They knew it would be a hard sell and a tough fight, but it’s certainly possible recent events like the ones at the University of Washington could give the bill more momentum,” Hagge said. “With the college-football season rapidly approaching, the issue could be thrust into the spotlight.”

The NCAA officially opposes all forms of sports wagering, legal or not, and claims the existence of such wagering jeopardizes the welfare of student athletes and undermines the integrity of sport.