There aren't any other major sports team in the area for a reason. Given the regularity with which match-fixing or referee-paying scandals pop up in the European leagues, I doubt we'll be seeing any major league sports in America's capital of mobbed-up sports gambling any time soon.
it doesn't make any sense to think that there would be gambling scandals for a team in Vegas. Are players on DC United geting involved in politcal scandals? Is MLS betting some kind of big business on the books in Vegas? Also, its in the casinos best interest to make sure the games are not fixed. Betting is in part what has elevated the popularity of american football, and if more people bet on MLS, that means more people are going to watch it. And I don't think the mafia is too involved in running the town anymore
Uh, no. In parimutuel systems, the house wants the odds to be as attractive as possible, meaning there's no incentive for the house to fix bets (and reduced incentives for other parties). In a point spread betting system, the fix is simple to execute and immensely profitable, both for the house and for third parties. Then who do you think gets the skim? Whether the mob is actually still in charge or not is moot. It's a perception problem, and sports leagues do everything they possibly can to avoid the perception of fixes being in, because that perception is extremely damaging in itself. Staying out of Vegas is part of that.
here is a map i did with the current MLS teams with bubbles around them. The red bubble is 100 miles each way from the city (200 mile diameter) and the blue bubble is 200 miles each way from city (400 mile diameter). (right-click, view image for bigger image) I added some of the major cities people were talking about for expansion so you can see the holes MLS has in where the teams are, not particularly market size.
I saw some betting ads on the sideline ads during a Fulham game once saying 9/5 odds Brian McBride scores next. Funny thing was he actually did score next. But seriously if someone is willing to bet money on something they will most likely be able to find someone to take the bet.