LAS VEGAS (AP) – A race for a gold medal could bring lots of green for gamblers in Nevada if state officials approve requests from sports books and a casino owner to allow wagering on Olympic events.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board is hosting a workshop Thursday to consider the proposal. A final decision is expected in late February.
Along with the Olympics, sports books want a change in the law that could allow bets on nonsporting events such as the Academy Awards, the most valuable player in Major League Baseball, or even “American Idol.”
The state currently bars casinos from accepting wagers on events such as the Oscars in which the outcome is known before it is officially disclosed.
Olympic betting has been frowned on because the most prestigious sporting event in the world involved amateur athletes and, in some cases, decisions made by judges. But that thinking is changing as more professional athletes compete.
International sports books in Great Britain and Ireland, and offshore Internet sites already allow such bets. Nevada casinos want to do the same.
“Anytime you can increase the amount of betting options to customers is a good thing,” said Jason Simbol, vice president of risk management for CG Technology, which operates sports books at The Cosmopolitan, Hard Rock Hotel, Tropicana, Venetian and Palms casinos.
The changes in Nevada regulations were requested by South Point casino owner Gaughan South LLC and Las Vegas-area sports books.
The South Point proposal pointed to the “dream team” of U.S. professional basketball players in the 1990s as an indication that more pros are competing for Olympic gold.
What about Olympic events that require a judge’s subjective score?
South Point officials said such events would be no different than wagering on a boxing match or Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in which winners can sometimes be determined by judges.
“I think the time was right,” A.G. Burnett, chair of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, said about the proposals to expand betting.
Ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Nevada board announced it had signed an agreement with the International Olympic Committee to share information on Olympic betting allowed elsewhere as a way to protect against illegal wagering activity.
Burnett said that has paved the way for Nevada to consider Olympic betting.
Regulators have gotten similar requests in the past. One sports book wanted to allow bets on basketball, soccer and tennis during the 2012 Olympics in London but the proposal was denied, said Karl Bennison, chief of the gambling board’s enforcement division.
Last year, regulators approved wagers for “Horse of the Year” but requests involving other possible wagers were rejected because there was no way to provide the state with verifiable results.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
