Dallas mayor on casino dreams: Don't forget about city council

During Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson's annual sit-down interview with the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce, the sale of the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson from the Las Vegas Sands came up. The mayor said those pushing for casino gaming in the city need to be talking to the city council and not just the state legislature.

The Adelson and Dumont families have spent millions already trying to bring casino gaming to Texas. They join Cuban's efforts to bring a resort-style casino to North Texas. The mayor told a crowd if the location is in Dallas the city council will also have to be consulted.

"The folks I sit around the horseshoe with every day I can guarantee you are going to have to have a say in where you plop a casino in the City of Dallas. Or whether you get to plop a casino in the City of Dallas," said Johnson.

The city has to approve permits, construction, road closures, and a large amount of procedures to build a large building. The mayor remains skeptical if it will even get that far along, with a conservative legislature that so far has not expanded gambling to include table games like poker and blackjack.

"Ultimately, no matter what happens there, let's say one day it gets legalized to have casino gambling. That's not something that just because the legislature says can happen, just happens," said Johnson.

The NBA still needs to approve the purchase by Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law Patrick Dumont for $3.5 billion, which is expected this week.

In the days after the deal became public, Adelson was already in the area speaking at a yearly conference for the powerful Texas Association of Business in Austin.

“The commercial ties between Texas and Israel are truly booming and it even runs deeper than basketball. Though my family are huge fans of the Dallas Mavericks," said Adelson.

Building a new casino resort will likely bring hundreds of construction jobs and millions in economic development, and will add to the tourism and entertainment reputation of the Dallas-Fort Worth area with the center of it being Arlington's many sports complexes.

“When you think of all the places you want to save up to vacation, Texas isn’t one of them,” Mark Cuban told The Dallas Morning News. “There’s no real destination that you save up for. That’s a problem and I think resort gaming would have a huge impact.”

If the sale goes through, Cuban will still operate the team. The sale can be approved by the NBA Board of Governors this week.

“My goal, and we’d partner with Las Vegas Sands, is when we build a new arena it’ll be in the middle of a resort and casino,” Cuban told The Dallas Morning News. “That’s the mission.”

Johnson said he was out of the loop on any major project.

"I have not been asked, Mark Cuban and his business associates have not come to me," said Johnson.

Johnson said a future conversation would look like the conversation in Frisco when Universal brought an entertainment complex to the Collin County City Council, saying, "There's a whole conversation about, well who's coming to Frisco and who's this bringing?"

NBC 5 and Universal share the same parent company, Comcast.

Historically, the Texas legislature has opposed expanding gaming into Tier III, which would allow casino games like blackjack, roulette, poker, and others. Currently, the three major casinos in Texas run by Native American tribes have bingo and slot-like machines.

This year, the Texas House took a rare floor vote on the issue, getting over the 100 needed votes for sports betting but falling short by a few for expanding casino gaming. Two-thirds of both chambers need to approve a gambling item before sending it to voters in a statewide election to make the final say.

Many onlookers and lawmakers believe Adelson getting closer to Texas politics and business can only help their cause. She'll join others like the Texas Sports Betting Alliance, which includes Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Cuban, and former Gov. Rick Perry as their spokesman.