Why has Vegas never had a big-league team?

It seems major league sports franchises are finally overcoming their fear of bringing teams to North America's gambling capital.

Las Vegas has always had some kind of minor-league team — be it baseball or hockey — and, of course, has played host to some of the most high-profile boxing matches in history. There was a brief and ill-fated attempt by the Canadian Football League — the Las Vegas Posse — in the 1990s, and in more recent years, the city is home to the headquarters of the UFC, the de facto professional mixed martial arts circuit.

But a major sports franchise has never called the city home. Until now, it seems.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the NHL will announce plans for an expansion team in Las Vegas on June 22 ahead of its board of governors meeting, and with a $500-million US fee going into the owners' pockets, is pretty much a done deal to be approved.

Sports organizations have long avoided Sin City over fears related to its vice-fuelled economy. The biggest concern has always been the gambling industry, and fears of match-fixing and other corruption. 

Ban lifted in 2001 paved way

But with each year that argument holds less and less merit. In 2001 Nevada lifted a 40-year-old ban which barred sports books from taking bets on teams based in the state. The change meant residents could place bets on University of Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels games, but a lot didn't actually change. Everyone was already betting on UNLV games.

"There's always been gambling on basketball in [Las Vegas] and there's always been gambling on Rebel basketball, it just hasn't been above board," Mike Olsen, president of the Las Vegas Silver Bandits, a team which at the time played in the International Basketball League, told ESPN at the time. "Now it's legal, so at least now it can be monitored, which means they'll have an easier time of catching point-shavers by tracking the unusual betting cycles at the sports books."

The rise of internet betting only made that it easier for Nevada residents and again, there was no evidence of match-fixing or other results-oriented corruption at the school.

Worries of young, newly wealthy professional athletes playing in a city lionized for its contentious indulgences seem to have been at least partially put to rest by leagues where sports betting is a mainstay. The English Premier League thrives in a country where bookmakers keep legal shop fronts across the country with relatively few cases of corruption involving individual players.

Fancy new facility 

Another roadblock was a lack of suitable facilities, but that too has changed. In April the city celebrated the opening of T-Mobile Arena, a new NBA- and NHL-ready, 20,000-seat facility at the south end of its iconic strip, a short walk from many of the world's largest hotels and casinos. The arena was paid for completely by private money, bypassing the regular tug-of-war teams too often force municipal governments into over new rinks and stadiums.

The bid for a new NHL team has already secured 13,200 season-ticket deposits. With a population of two million, and an estimated 40 million visitors each year,  the team should be able to get rid of the remaining 4,300 tickets which will be available each game. (T-Mobile Arena will hold only 17,500 for hockey games)

A new hockey team might not be the only sports franchise coming to Las Vegas in the coming years. The NFL's Oakland Raiders have been taking a serious look at the city, and there are rumours of MLS interest as well.

With worries over corruption largely curbed simply by the reality of global internet wagering, major sports franchises' interest in Las Vegas was inevitable; there is too much money to be made for owners to ignore much longer.