F1 Tickets Industry

Vegas Politicians Accepted Tens of Thousands Worth of F1 Tickets

By Amelia Walker Senior Content Writer Updated: 10 February 2024

Amelia Walker Senior Content Writer

Amelia Walker is a Senior Content Writer at Betting.US. She has a law degree and deep knowledge of the gambling laws in the United States. Her mission is to keep players informed about responsible gambling, while her passion for sports helps her create useful guides. Amelia has over a decade of experience in betting, which has positioned her as a trusted voice among our readers.

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According to recent reports, politicians in Las Vegas accepted tens of thousands worth of free F1 tickets last year. As one of the major entertainment and betting events of the year, the inaugural F1 event last November drew a lot of attention and attracted many wealthy visitors keen to see the action up close and personal.

A report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal claims that, based on financial reports, five politicians in Las Vegas accepted ‘educational’ tickets to the event, each of which was worth $10,000 excluding the 9 percent entertainment tax imposed in Nevada.

It was reported that tickets were offered to the Skybox area for the event to all seven members of the Clark County Commission but two of the members turned them down.

Justifying Acceptance of the Tickets

One of the five members of the commission to accept tickets was Tick Segerblom. He recently spoke about his reasons for accepting the high-value ticket to attend to event. He said:

The county — its employees and residents — made the event happen and suffered lots of adverse consequences as a result. If we’re going to keep doing it for nine more years, we need to learn everything we can.

Another of the members who accepted the tickets also said that it would have been ‘irresponsible’ for them not to attend, as they needed to see how it all worked.

Ross Miller, who is also said to have accepted tickets to the F1 event, claims that he only attended one practice run of the event in a bid to better understand the scope and to help him to make informed decisions.

Details regarding attendance at the event came as a result of the qualifying commissioners’ 2024 financial disclosure reports. It is reported that Segerblom had not originally disclosed his attendance, but that he had since said that he would make amendments to his report.

Acceptance of Campaign Donations

This information comes just days after two members of the Clark County Commission admitted to accepting $10,000 each in donations from the Oakland Athletics. The $10,000 was the maximum allowed by law and came after the Nevada Senate approved the construction of a $1.5 billion baseball stadium on the Las Vegas Strip for the team.

Some of the money was given back by the Oakland Athletics, but this was in the form of campaign donations for politicians who had backed the bill.

Most of those who voted yes on the bill are said to have received a donation, according to disclosures on the Nevada Secretary of State website. In total, 38 voted yes to the bill, and 30 of them received donations of at least $1,000.

Data suggests that a total of $67,000 was donated to legislators who publicly backed the construction of the stadium. This was in addition to the $20,000 that was donated to the two commission members, McCurdy II and Naft.

It was also noted that no campaign donations were made by the Oakland Athletics to any politicians who were publicly opposed to the bill.