Las Vegas Sands - Dallas Mavericks Deal Approved By NBAMark Cuban Hopes Team Can Play In Arena Casino Resort |
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Last week the NBA officially approved the Las Vegas Sands Corp. as the new majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, while former majority owner Mark Cuban outlined some of his reasoning behind the sale.
Casino mogul Miriam Adelson, widow of the late Sheldon Adelson, takes over majority control of the team as Cuban has long sought to build an arena coupled with a casino resort in the Dallas area. The deal is valued at $3.5 billion with Cuban retaining ownership of 27% of the franchise and control of team operations.
‘World-Class Partner’
With the deal approved, Adelson’s son-in-law Patrick Dumont, who also serves as Sands president and CEO, will run the organization from the business side.
Although headquartered in Las Vegas, Sands no longer has any casino properties in the area, having sold The Venetian and The Palazzo in 2022 to focus on their seven casinos in Macau and Singapore. The company also owned the Sands Casino Resort in Pennsylvania before selling it to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in 2019.
Beyond the casino angle, Cuban believes real estate and the type of complex he’s proposing will become much more important for the league in the coming years.
“The advantage is what you can build and where, and you need to have somebody who’s really, really good at that,” Cuban told the Associated Press. “Patrick and Miriam, they’re the best in the world at what they do. Literally, around the world.”
“When you get a world-class partner who can come in and grow your revenue base and you’re not dependent on things that you were in the past, that’s a huge win.”
Texas Casino Gaming Faces Obstacles
Bringing casino gambling to the Dallas area faces significant headwinds. Casinos aren’t legal in Texas and some critics even argue that the state’s numerous poker clubs aren’t even technically legal.
The last few legislative sessions have seen some efforts to expand gambling and even Gov. Greg Abbot® has shown some support for sports betting. Those efforts ultimately failed without even receiving a floor vote despite Sands spending millions of dollars for considerable lobbying efforts.
The state legislature only meets every two years in Texas as well, meaning the next shot for casinos would be in 2025. Any bill would also need voter approval for a constitutional amendment to add casino gaming. Despite some of those obstacles, Cuban plans to keep trying.
“Honestly, I don’t care so much about sports betting,” Cuban said. “If you look at destination resorts and casinos, the casino part of it is tiny, relative to the whole bigger destination aspect of it. Could you imagine building the Venetian in Dallas, Texas? That would just change everything.”
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