1.
Las Vegas only became a large market very recently.
2.
The perceived stigma of legal sports betting may be seen as being in conflict of interest with any potential pro sports team being located in Las Vegas by the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NHL. The former three leagues have especially strong anti-gambling policies, going so far as to prohibit their leagues' personnel from having any involvement in gambling interests. There are currently no laws preventing Nevada sports books from accepting bets on local professional teams, and many casinos have said they would not voluntarily take a local team "off the boards."
3.
Some potential owners believe a professional sports franchise would have serious difficulty competing for an audience in a city with so many entertainment options. Also, Las Vegas is not on a work schedule similar to most cities. Other cities have most workers on a 9-to-5, Monday-Friday schedule. Las Vegas is a true 24/7 city, which results in a smaller potential market for a sports event when it is compared to a similar sized city.
4.
Las Vegas is still a relatively small television market, because most of the immediate surrounding area is sparsely populated and the more populous outlying areas were all drawn into the markets of larger cities farther away decades ago. For example, St. George, Utah is now part of the Salt Lake City market, and Bullhead City, Arizona is part of the Phoenix market. Las Vegas' TV market has been ranked as the 51st largest in the US, behind places like Albuquerque, Greensboro, Harrisburg, and Hartford. Furthermore, although Nevada's population is growing rapidly, it still had under two million people in the 2000 census. No other state with less than two million people has a major league franchise, and there is only one team (the Utah Jazz) based in a state with a population of less than three million.
But the Las Vegas Thunder of the now-defunct IHL played for six seasons from 1993 to 1999.The only ice that people in Las Vegas knows is the ice in their drinks.