Amateur Sports Integrity Act

The Amateur Sports Integrity Act (S. 718) is a legislative proposal designed to protect the fairness of amateur athletics by addressing performance-enhancing drugs and sports gambling. The bill would establish a federal grant program to research new methods for detecting banned substances, such as steroids and growth hormones, while also funding educational programs to prevent drug use among high school and college athletes.

Additionally, the bill would implement a federal ban on gambling tied to high school, college, and Olympic sporting events, with exceptions for social "pools" where all entry fees are paid out to the winners. To enforce these changes, the legislation would prohibit financial institutions from processing payments for illegal internet gambling and require colleges to monitor their computer networks for gambling activity and report on campus gambling crimes. For the average citizen, this bill would mean stricter regulations on sports betting and increased federal oversight of the health and integrity standards for student-athletes.