Raiders in Sin City? You can bet on it

NFL to vote today on team’s relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — A town built on losers is about to become a big winner in the NFL relocation sweepstakes.

And Sundays in Sin City may never be the same.

What seemed unimaginable to most just a year ago is about to become a reality.

NFL owners appear poised to accept a $750-million gift from taxpayers and vote today to allow the Raiders to move from Oakland to a new stadium to be built just off the Las Vegas Strip.

The same league that treated Las Vegas with disdain for so many years is ready to embrace it now. It was just a few years ago, the NFL refused to allow the city to even advertise on the Super Bowl telecast for fear of contaminating the game. Now it won’t be long before fans can place a bet on the Raiders, then meander over to the stadium to see if it pays off.

The NFL is a bit late to the party, with the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights beginning play this year as the first major sports franchise in this gambling city. But the Raiders moving here would not only give the city one of the premier sports attractions in the country but could help legitimize sports betting across the country.

“The integrity of the game will not be in question because it’s in Las Vegas,” said Steve Sisolak, a county commissioner who has been involved in the effort to lure the Raiders from Oakland. “The NFL has realized that betting exists everywhere and it’s not a risk.”

What would be a risk, NFL owners now seem to realize, would be turning down the $750 million in tourist taxes Las Vegas is offering up for the new stadium. The Raiders weren’t about to get that kind of money in Oakland, despite a last-minute pitch by former player Ronnie Lott and Oakland’s mayor to keep the team.

There is still work to be done, assuming at least 24 owners do as expected and vote for the move to Las Vegas. There’s a stadium to be built just off the glitzy Strip, and an agreement that needs to be reached on how much it is going to cost and how it will be operated.

The Raiders could still be in Oakland another two to three years, though there is some talk about renovating the aging 40,000-seat stadium the UNLV football team plays in so the move could be made earlier.