Mayor: Hornets not coming here

Dan Kulin

Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2005 | 10:10 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said Monday the NBA's New Orleans Hornets will not play any home games here, citing the NBA's aversion to gambling on its games as the reason.

Goodman also confirmed that he spoke with Hornets' owner George Shinn last week.

"He expressed his love and interest in Las Vegas," Goodman said.

The Hornets are scrambling to find a new location for their home games because their arena in New Orleans was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Officials with UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center offered to let the Hornets use the arena for a few home games if needed. And Goodman said Shinn called him last week.

On Monday, when asked whether the Hornets might play some games in Las Vegas, Goodman said, "It's not going to happen."

"There's not enough time to fulfill the NBA requirement," Goodman said about dropping NBA games from Nevada sports books. "And I wouldn't ask them (the sports books) to, either."

The mayor said having casinos drop NBA games from their sports books would be "insulting and hypocritical."

Nevada's gaming industry, including sports betting, is "the most regulated business" and therefore, he believes the wagers are not a problem.

Goodman would not say whether he has spoken with any casino or NBA officials about the gambling issue since he spoke with Shinn.

"Came to my own conclusions," Goodman said.

The city's casinos did agree not to take bets on the 2007 NBA All-Star Game as part of the deal that secured the game for Las Vegas.

But Goodman said that is a different situation because the all-star game is "just an exhibition. They (the sports books) don't make any money off that."

Goodman said discussions he had with Hornets or NBA officials were not done in conjunction with officials from the Thomas & Mack Center, and added that he's "the one with the relationship with (NBA Commissioner) David Stern."

Daren Libonati, Thomas & Mack executive director, said he was not surprised the mayor believes the Hornets will not play any games here.

"I can't imagine the NBA changing its stance (against sports betting) because of a hurricane," Libonati said.

NBA officials contacted last week said they would not publicly discuss offers from individual cities regarding the Hornets, but said they were working with Hornets' officials on contingency plans for the upcoming season.