(Photo credit: Bob Snow/Bruins Daily)

LAS VEGAS — What were the odds of NHL hockey existing where Bugsy Siegel pulled his car off a dusty road in the late 1940’s to envision the most famous strip of real estate on the planet?

When only six cities ruled the NHL until the late 1960’s, the number of NHL franchises currently sits pat at 30.

Regardless, bet the house on that number coming in at 32 — one in Quebec City. The other between the Monte Carlo and New York New York casinos on Las Vegas Boulevard, where a state-of-the-art entertainment complex is slowly rising in the desert sky on the “Strip” and is expected to be completed by April.

How sure a bet?

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman – how’s that last name for a hashed metaphor herein? – steadfastly holds his expansion cards closer to his vest than an amateur with pocket aces. But hold the cards, he does. And if the past three months of discussion are any indication, then expansion is down to two simple questions: “how much” and “when?”

Follow the timeline since July that leads to those two likely answers.

Speaking at a Beyond Sport United symposium on July 22 at Prudential Center in New Jersey, Bettman — according to NJ.com and NJ Advance Media — denied that expansion to Las Vegas and/or Quebec City is a foregone conclusion. “Filling x-number of spots through expansion is not the (current objective). We’ve been getting lots of expressions of interest the last couple of years. The purpose of this is what, if anything, are we going to do in response to the expressions of interest. We’ve had some inquiries. Some real and bonafide and some not.”

The deadline for filing an application and proceeding in the NHL expansion process was [late July]. The NHL confirmed it had received two applications: One from billionaire Bill Foley for a franchise in Las Vegas, Nevada, and one from Quebecor for a franchise in Quebec City, Quebec. No coincidence that both cities were knee-deep in finishing state-of-the-art arenas with required advance season-ticket sales in place.

An NHL team could call this new arena on the Vegas strip home in the foreseeable future. (Photo by Bob Snow/Bruins Daily)

In late September, the NHL Board of Governors met, comprised of current NHL-team owners who ultimately take a final vote to give Bettman the expansion approval. It was like holding those pocket aces with two more on the flop, but Bettman still held off his an all-in bet.

“This isn’t like a 60-minute game where we know at the end of two and a half hours, we’re going to get a result,” Bettman told TSN. “We’re going through a process. The process will lead us in many directions, lead us to questions that have to be answered, and ultimately … the (Board of Governors) will be in a position to consider, deliberate and make a judgment.”

According to TSN, Bettman then updated the full, 30-member Board of Governors on expansion later in the afternoon. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said discussion on expansion in the full board meeting took up only approximately 10 to 15 minutes of the four-hour meeting.

“It was a minor part of today’s board meeting,” Daly said. “The executive committee didn’t even get a chance to discuss the presentations that were made, because we were time pressed. We started the (full) board meeting late.

“The follow up is what more do we need to know?” Daly asked.

Like how high the Board can push the expansion fee with the 10-million application fee peanuts compared with the bonanza coming for the league owners.

The last time the NHL expanded was back in 2000 when Columbus and Minnesota ponied up $80 million each to become the 29th and 30th teams.

What’s that number in 2015? If the NHL does expand, the fee to join the club will “start with a five,” Bettman said, as in $500 million minimum.

“That’s U.S. dollars,” Bettman added, pointedly — or $670 million Canadian.

Any vote to expand requires 23 affirmative votes from the league’s 30 clubs. The Board of Governors next meeting is December 7. One of those 23 votes is one of the most influential: Boston Bruins’ owner Jeremy Jacobs.

On October 1, Jacobs and his Bruins’ management team held court for their Media Day about the new season.

When asked about that Board meeting a few days prior – and the topic of expansion — Jacobs said:

[quote_box]“There’s a lot of things of interest and I think the only thing that might be is the expansion process seems to be moving forward and they had two candidates, one being Quebec and the other Las Vegas. Both have very legitimate arenas in place and organizations in place. So there’s a capacity out there, I don’t know if there’s a will. I feel good about where we are today. But we’re imbalanced here in that we’ve got 16 teams in the east, 14 in the west. I would probably have to indicate that another team in the west would make more sense for us. Now looking at the two locations, you have to say that Quebec looks like they are…more history there for hockey. But the presentation that was made was very compelling by those people in Las Vegas.”[/quote_box]

Maybe the “Las Vegas Sierras” is a good for wager for the new team’s name — the majestic Sierra Nevada Mountains loom in the background of the new rink.

With $500-million plus on the table to be divided among Jacobs and his 29 peers, look for the will-to-expand vote before the next ball drops in Times Square, a slap shot away from the NHL offices.

And a whole lot of celebrating on a strip of land where Bugsy Siegel has ultimately transformed his long shot into a slap shot.