The NBA has selected Las Vegas to host the 2007 All-Star Game, according to Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of marketing at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), which has been bidding for the event.

Getting the All-Star Game will strengthen Las Vegas' bid to score its first pro team. The gambling mecca is the USA's largest metro market without a major professional sports team. With a population heading toward 2 million, Las Vegas ranks as the fastest-growing city in the country.

"It would be the biggest event since Elvis," says Gavin Maloof, co-owner of the Sacramento Kings and the Palms hotel and casino, who's been campaigning for his home city among fellow NBA owners. "It will be huge. It will be a mini Super Bowl for the city."

Jicinsky said LVCVA has been privately notified by the NBA that its All-Star bid for 2007 has been accepted, pending a public announcement by Commissioner David Stern Friday in Vegas. While the NBA declined to confirm the news, it issued a media advisory promising a "major announcement" by Stern, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, LVCVA President Rossi Ralenkotter, Sacramento Kings co-owner George Maloof Jr., and TNT announcer Marv Albert.

"We're very excited about what it does for the profile of Las Vegas in the sports world," Jicinsky says. "We think this announcement, and holding the game in Vegas, is one more step toward us getting a professional sports team."

The NBA's 2007 All-Star Game will be held at the 18,000-seat Thomas & Mack basketball arena on the UNLV campus. The Mandalay Bay hotel and casino on the Las Vegas strip will host most of the supporting festivities during the four-day basketball celebration. Jicinsky predicted the All-Star weekend would generate non-gaming revenue of more than $27 million.

The marriage comes with strings attached. The NBA, like most pro sports, is wary of sports betting. LVCVA had to promise that no sports book in Vegas or the state of Nevada would take action on the game. The Nevada Gaming Commission and State Gaming Control Board have signed off on the arrangement, according to senior research analyst Frank Streshley. "There will be no betting on the game," he says.