Late last year, the NBA approved the sale of a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to the Sands Corporation, which operates the Las Vegas Sands casino.
Mark Cuban has expressed support for resort gaming in Texas in the past and the Sands' purchase of the Mavericks gives Texas two NBA teams whose owners have Las Vegas ties. Tillman Fertitta, who owns the Houston Rockets, counts the Golden Nugget as part of his portfolio.
"The Sands families would not have bought the Mavericks unless they thought that casino gambling was coming in a future that they could see and enjoy," SMU political science professor Cal Jillson said.
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In the Mavericks agreement, the Sands Corporation will take a 69% stake in the team, with Cuban retaining 31% and control of basketball operations. The sale was valued a just under $4 billion, according to The Dallas Morning News.
However, gambling is still illegal in Texas. Jillson said lobbyists spent upwards of $5 million in campaign donations before the 2021 legislative session, but that figure dipped last year.
"They spent a little bit less on campaign contributions and lobbyists in 2023," he said. "If I were them, I'd draw the lesson that you need to spend more, not less if you're going to get your way."
In addition to two of Texas' three NBA teams being owned by casino operators, Choctaw Casinos and Resorts has the naming rights at the former home of the Texas Rangers, and the Chickasaw Nation, which operates WinStar World Casino in Oklahoma, owns Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie.
Robert Kohler, a lobbyist and consultant for the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist Convention of Texas, opposes legalized gambling in the state and said he didn't think too much of the Sands Corporation's purchase of the Mavericks.
"No more than when Penn (National) Gaming purchased Sam Houston (Race Park) or the Chickasaw (Nation) purchased Lone Star (Park)," he said. "It was folks moving around the table that they get in some golden ticket line that there's already a significant people in that line."
But if gambling were legalized, and an arena/casino/resort were to be built, where would it be?
"Theoretically, you could do it in the site of the old Reunion Arena. Theoretically, with the proposed redevelopment of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, those areas might leave enough space to have that kind of development," Dallas Morning News architecture critic Mark Lamster said. "Whether would be appealing to the Sands Corporation that now owns a majority stake in the Mavs is another question, because in those cases, they might not be able to control the land."
The Texas Legislature doesn't meet again until January 2025, so the answer to all these questions may have to wait a year.
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