LAS VEGAS — Within the last six months, at the very least five N.F.L. players have been arrested on this draft city known widely as a celebration and tourism capital.
Yet despite the cases and the challenges that include having a team and major events in a freewheeling destination known for its ritzy nightclubs, loose open-container laws and the 24-hour availability of drinking and gambling, the N.F.L.’s position is that it mustn’t treat Las Vegas in another way from another cities that host the league.
Cathy Lanier, the N.F.L.’s chief security officer, said the arrests had not created discussion about putting in any additional security policies or taking other actions.
On Monday, a judge for the second time postponed a court hearing for Alvin Kamara, the star Recent Orleans Saints running back who’s accused of assaulting a person in a nightclub on Feb. 5. Kamara and three others faced charges stemming from a fight just before the Pro Bowl, which was held in Las Vegas the week before the Super Bowl. In an incident report, the police accused Kamara and three other men of punching and stomping on a person and fracturing his orbital bone.
David Chesnoff, a lawyer for Kamara, declined to comment on Friday.
Kamara played within the N.F.L.’s all-star game the day after the alleged fight and was arrested after the sport.
The Raiders in November 2021 released receiver Henry Ruggs III, a first-round draft pick in 2020, after he crashed his automobile into the vehicle of Tina Tintor, 23, killing her and her dog when her automobile burst into flames, and injuring his girlfriend, Kiara Washington.
Ruggs was charged with two felony counts of driving under the influence and two felony counts of reckless driving and possessing a gun while under the influence. He has not entered a plea within the case. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 16, based on court records. Chesnoff, who also represents Ruggs, declined to comment in regards to the case.
Kansas City released cornerback Damon Arnette in January after he was accused of threatening valet drivers with a gun at a Las Vegas hotel. His next court date is scheduled for July 26, based on court records. The Raiders drafted Arnette in the primary round in 2020, but released him in November 2021, citing a video that surfaced on social media by which Arnette appeared to brandish a gun and make a threat.
Arnette’s attorney, Ross Goodman, didn’t reply to a request for comment.
Nate Hobbs, a Raiders cornerback, pleaded guilty to careless driving, a misdemeanor charge, in January after he was found asleep in his vehicle on an exit ramp in a parking garage on the Cromwell hotel earlier that month, registering a blood-alcohol level of 0.07 percent, slightly below the legal limit in Nevada of 0.08 percent.
The Raiders didn’t reply to a request for comment.
Lanier said the incidents were troubling, but not inherent to Las Vegas.
“I feel the instances that did occur there are unlucky, but unfortunately those circumstances can occur anywhere,” Lanier said in an interview.
The N.F.L. for many years avoided Las Vegas, mainly due to Nevada’s legalized gambling on sports. In 2007, the league suspended cornerback Adam Jones for a season for misbehavior that included a task in a fight at a Las Vegas strip club throughout the N.B.A.’s All-Star weekend. Three people were shot, and Jones was given a yr of probation as a part of a plea agreement.
In 2017, team owners approved the Raiders’ relocation from Oakland, Calif., after its failed bid to return to Los Angeles. The league embraced Las Vegas much more after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2018 that struck down a ban on commercialized sports betting in most states. The league awarded town the draft for this yr and the Super Bowl in 2024.
Still, N.F.L. players and personnel are prohibited from entering sports books throughout the season, except to briefly go through to access approved areas, reminiscent of hotel rooms. League employees who should not players should not allowed to bet on sports in any respect, while players are allowed to bet on games in other leagues. The N.F.L. Players Association, the union that represents the players, also offers a prearranged driving service to discourage drunken driving.
In keeping with a league spokesman, 32 N.F.L. players were arrested in 2021. There are greater than 1,600 lively N.F.L. players on rosters.
Lanier said that because only a small percentage of players had been arrested, she didn’t think it was obligatory to control athletes or employees in another way from one city to a different because of various entertainment offerings.
“The policy is the policy and what we’re asking our employees to comply with is as equally vital in Detroit because it is in Las Vegas,” Lanier said. “We put a variety of effort into ensuring everybody has all of the tools they should make an excellent decision no matter where they’re.”
Tommy Burns, a former police chief of Henderson, Nev., a Las Vegas suburb of about 300,000 people, and a current security consultant for some casino-resorts, said that in his experience athletes cause less trouble at nightlife venues compared with the overall population. Though Las Vegas is understood for its Sin City fame, Burns said he doesn’t think it merits unique attention from the N.F.L.
“The players that get in trouble are going to get trouble regardless of where they’re, whether it’s Recent York, Recent Orleans or Miami,” Burns said. “I don’t think you possibly can tie it in and say, ‘Geez, the Raiders are in Vegas now, they’re going to cause trouble.’”
