Moving moments of the 2004 Olympics in Athens, to be sure, but does anyone really care? Since we live in the only state where sports betting is legal, that question can partly be answered by the fact that betting on the Olympics isn't allowed and isn't likely to show up on the boards anytime soon in the years to come.

Sports book operators say there's not much call from customers to bet on the Olympics, though some decent crowds have gathered in recent weeks to watch the outcome of certain events.

"They're asking, 'Who won?' not 'Can I bet on it?' " said Jay Kornegay, executive director of race and sports at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Still, some say there are some good arguments that can be made these days that Olympians are more "professional" in caliber than the college athletes whose games receive a big share of betting action.

"These aren't amateurs. The Olympics is big business, and these athletes get paid endorsements," said Robert Walker, director of race and sports for MGM MIRAGE.

Like many aspects of sports betting, there are rules and then there are perceptions of those rules. Nevada's decades-old sports betting regulations have always outlawed betting on amateur, noncollegiate sporting events. The Olympics, while featuring professional athletes and nonprofessional athletes who nevertheless obtain lucrative endorsements and other financial perks, were always considered "amateur" events though it was enough of a gray area for some books to take bets on a few Olympic events of years past. Some books, for example, took some action on the U.S. men's basketball "Dream Team" that won the gold in Barcelona in 1992.

In January 2001, as part of a host of other, more publicized changes to Nevada sports betting rules, the Nevada Gaming Commission clarified its rules to prohibit betting on the Olympics. There's still some general confusion on this issue, however, because there's been no published regulations that mention the Olympics. The rules are specific on other fronts, however. Nevada books can't take bets on political events, the rules say. Other non-sporting events are prohibited unless the Gaming Control Board chairman designates otherwise.

The more important outcome of that 2001 vote was that commissioners lifted a longstanding betting ban on University of Nevada, Las Vegas games as well as University of Nevada, Reno games.

Some sports book operators say the Olympics betting ban was one of several "concessions" made to Nevada regulators and sports betting critics in exchange for lifting the ban on state college-level sports. If that's the case, it wasn't much of a trade because unlike the Olympics, UNLV and UNR basketball games have lots of local fans and attract real money, casinos say. But other insiders say it wasn't a give-and-take process.

Regulators "drew a line in the sand" -- with the Olympics on one side and state college sports on the other, Kornegay said.

"I think they made the right decision," he said.

Olympic events sometimes feature young, high school-age athletes while UNLV and UNR games feature older athletes who are less likely to be lured into fixing a game, sports book operators say. In addition, some say the push to legalize betting on UNLV and UNR games received some unlikely help from Arizona Sen. John McCain. While crusading against gambling on college sports, McCain said it was hypocritical for Nevada to bet on other college sporting events but not on hometown teams.

At the time, regulators said removing the ban on UNLV and UNR games would improve regulatory oversight and cut down on illegal sports betting. The sports books applauded and nobody cried foul over the Olympics.

After all, casinos already are looking ahead to football season, which attracts the lion's share of sports book revenue each year. Football wagering revenue totaled $28.4 million for Strip casinos in 2003, 47 percent of the Strip's sports book revenue and a 40 percent increase from 2002.

As of the third week of the Olympics, the Las Vegas Hilton had only received "a couple of inquiries" from customers about betting on the games, said Kornegay, who joined the Hilton in June from a career setting odds at Imperial Palace. Even the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City -- without time delays and a home court advantage, didn't attract much more interest, he said.

The time delay and the fact that it occurs only once every four years hurts its appeal, operators say. Americans also have a history of domestic team rivalries unlike other countries, which regularly compete against other nations in international leagues, they say.

"It's more of a watching event than a betting event," said Johnny Avello, director of race and sports for the Bally's and Paris casinos. The interest wasn't much greater when casinos took Olympic action, he said.

But Walker, of MGM MIRAGE, said his properties have received a fair share of inquiries about the Olympics this year, especially on basketball.

Some of that is driven by Internet casinos, which allow Americans and people from other countries to bet on nearly any event imaginable, he said.

"(Tourists) are surprised that we're not booking it. They think we book everything, including presidential elections," Walker said.

Even if there was more demand for the Olympics, some books say they wouldn't press regulators to legalize it for fear of stirring up a hornet's nest with McCain, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and other groups that have fought to prevent Nevada from betting on college sports.

"It wouldn't help our cause," said David Lee, director of race and sports for Mandalay Resort Group and a member of the Nevada Pari-Mutuel Association.

Not one member of the association, which discusses sports betting informally besides crafting policy decisions on race wagering, has mentioned an interest in legalizing Olympics bets, he said.

Walker agrees that "it's probably not a fight we want to pick right now."

Sports books probably wouldn't make that much money on the Olympics beyond certain events and even those wouldn't be a sure thing for the casinos, whose oddsmakers probably aren't familiar with all the events, Walker said.

Still, he says Las Vegas is "behind the times" and should allow bets on the Olympics and other sporting events beyond high school sports.

"People are betting the Olympics like crazy right now but not in Nevada," he said. "We don't offer as much as the (illegal) books. People come to Las Vegas and want to put their money down for entertainment purposes. That's what we're all about."

Rather than pushing the issue, Walker said, he would rather expend his energy pressing for another sporting event of sorts -- such as poker tournaments.

"TV drives everything that we book, and poker's a big deal," he said.

Liz Benston covers gaming and tourism for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4077 or by e-mail at benston@lasvegassun.com.