NFL Oakland Raiders team owner Mark Davis says he wants to move his franchise to Las Vegas, if it builds a 65,000-seat domed stadium, but wagering concerns might nix it.
The NFL has a natural aversion to sports betting of all forms, even legal sports betting in Nevada. With an NFL team potentially playing within a mile of the Las Vegas Strip and its numerous sports books, that aversion might become an insurmountable obstacle. However, the NFL is playing three games in London once again this year, where sport books appear on every high street. And a possible game in Mexico City in 2017 also would be in a city that permits wagering on sports.
Twenty-four of the NFL’s 32 team owners must okay a move to Las Vegas before Davis could relocate, and that raises concerns about local sports books taking action on the local team.
Due to layered corporate ownership of casinos and other business dealings, several sports books do not offer action on at least two professional sports teams.
Because of business ties between Harrah’s and the Boston Celtics, Caesars International, which owns Harrah’s, won’t post lines or take action on games involving the Celtics, even if it’s the NBA finals.
Likewise, Cantor Gaming’s sports book operation at the Palms won’t take action on the Boston Celtics or the Sacramento Kings, at least as long as the Maloof family maintains its 2 percent stake in the casino, which won’t be much longer, due to its pending sale.
To win favor of a move to Las Vegas, the city’s sports books might have to agree to not take action on the Raiders. Most already do when their respective casinos are hosting NCAA college basketball tournaments.
But some sports book operators say it’d be foolish to not take action on Raiders games if the team moves to Las Vegas.
Most point-shaving and game-fixing is tied to illegal betting, and Las Vegas only accounts for about a tenth of the total betting handle wagered on the NFL across the nation.
Before Las Vegas sports books cross that bridge, local officials first must build it, and that means finding an estimated $1.4 billion to build a 65,000-seat domed stadium on the UNLV campus near McCarran International Airport.
Davis already said he’d come up with $500 million toward the stadium’s cost, although some skeptics doubt his sincerity.
Sheldon Adelson offered to have Las Vegans Sands provide another $150 million. That leaves more than $600 million to find, and room taxes generally are the source most often cited for that.
But that means shorting the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority of revenue at a time when it’s working on a 10-year, $2.3 billion expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Without the money, shovels won’t go into the ground, and no NFL team will come to Las Vegas.
