From a Washington Post story by Adam Kilgore headlined “Inside the NFL’s careful, complicated embrace of sports gambling”:

In the early 2000s, during his nascent days as mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman asked for a meeting with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. He envisioned a franchise in his city, which at the time professional sports leagues treated as a third rail. Vegas meant gambling, and gambling meant a threat — whether perceived or real — to fans’ trust in the integrity of the games. Tagliabue met with Goodman, but he made clear that Goodman’s vision would never happen.