Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner ended Thursday’s 90-minute Capitol Hill hearing on potential federal oversight of legal sports gambling with a comment that didn’t make much sense.

“For Congress to do nothing is the worst possible alternative,” said Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican who chaired the hearing by the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.

The bottom line is that Congress doesn’t need to do anything regarding sports wagering. And – with history as a guide – Congress won’t do anything.

The hearing – which was overshadowed by the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh taking place at the same time – was all for show.

The committee members – most of whom don’t seem to favor legal sports betting – can check off the box sought by their anti-gambling backers that they held the hearing.

States – including four that have launched sports betting since June, plus Nevada – have gaming regulatory oversight well in hand.

“I don’t think that right now is the time for any kind of federal engagement with regard to gambling,” Becky Harris, chairwoman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, said during her prepared remarks. She was one of five witnesses to offer testimony to committee.

“States do a great job in every area including sports betting and we’ve just begun to see the roll out,” Harris said.

The hearing was held in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in May that the 25-year-old Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was unconstitutional. The decision opened the door for all states to legalize and regulate sports betting. Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi and West Virginia have since launched state-approved sports betting at casinos and racetracks.

“Just as Congress has refrained from regulating lotteries, slot machines, table games and other gambling products, it should leave sports betting oversight to the states and tribes that are closest to the market,” Sara Slane, the American Gaming Association’s senior vice president of public affairs, said in her prepared remarks.

She told the committee states have some 4,000 gaming regulators with budgets that exceed $1.3 billion dollars to oversee the gaming industry. Casinos also comply with federally-enforced anti-money laundering rules governed by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

“With such robust and rigorous regulatory oversight at both the state and federal levels, there is no need to overcomplicate or interfere with a system that is already working,” Slane said.

However, her words fell on deaf ears for several congressional representatives. But the committee listened clearly when two anti-gambling advocates hijacked the hearing away from a discussion on sports betting to delve into Internet gaming and unregulated gambling platforms that target minors.

Les Bernal, national director for an anti-gambling organization, believes all forms of gaming should be outlawed, including state lotteries. Jon Bruning, a former Nebraska attorney general and counselor to Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, turned his attention toward restoring the Interstate Federal Wire Act to its pre-2011 interpretation – a push the Sheldon Adelson-backed organization failed to achieve three years ago.

If there was any agreement, it was for all sides to do more in halting illegal and unregulated off-shore gaming operations that don’t pay taxes.

“We have some work to do, and I’m looking forward to working with you to try to come up with something both short term and something more permanent to deal with this issue,” Sensenbrenner said. “I’m afraid if we don’t, there are going to be people who get hurt and get hurt badly.”

Lost in the shuffle, somewhat, was an appearance from a National Football League representative, who said the league wants Congress to require sports book operators to use official league data and bar in-game wagering. Jocelyn Moore, an NFL spokeswoman and lobbyist, said the league also wants more aggressive enforcement against illegal bookies.

The AGA and the states also want to wipe out illegal betting operations, so there is some common ground.

Nevada Congresswoman Dina Titus, whose district includes the Las Vegas Strip, watched the hearing with some disappointment. Several House members, she said, don’t understand legal, regulated sports betting in the United States.

“I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that facts, not anti-gambling fear-mongering talking points, are driving this conversation,” the Las Vegas Democrat said in a statement. “I welcome members to come to Nevada to see how a system successfully regulated by a state operates.”