Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is proposing to build a new Vegas-style casino and resort complex in the heart of Dallas — although legal sports betting is yet to be pushed through by Texas lawmakers.
His goal is to join forces with the cash-rich Las Vegas Sands Corporation which owns several integrated hotel and casino facilities in Macao, as well as the Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore.
Cuban regards the project as part of his "mission" to "build a new arena...in the middle of a resort and casino" that would eventually see the Mavericks exit the American Airlines Center where they currently play when the team's 30-year lease on the arena expires in July 2031.
Cuban's ambitious plan is likely to add momentum to Joint Resolution 17 pre-filed last month by Texas State Senator Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, a proposed constitutional amendment that would see Texans vote next November on whether to legalize gaming and online sports betting sites in the Lone Star State.
The resolution is expected to be taken up during the new Texas legislative session which begins January 10, and would require two-thirds approval by both the House and Senate legislatures in order to set in motion the public referendum.
Sen. Alvarado's bill also calls for the creation of a Texas Gaming Commission that would be able to issue up to four betting licenses for retail resorts in major state urban centers.
"I welcome [Mark Cuban] to the arena of this discussion," said Alvarado in comments made last week to the Dallas Morning News. "Having somebody like Mark Cuban on board certainly gives a boost of enthusiasm to the effort. Hopefully, he’ll use his clout and resources to help get us across the finish line...He’s a smart businessman. He realizes the opportunity and potential that gaming has."
Political connections run deep
The Sands connection is a crucial element of the project. Prior to his death in January 2021, the Sands Corporation's Founder and owner, Sheldon Adelson, led an intense lobbying effort to legalize gaming in the state.
A fervent supporter of former President Donald Trump, Adelson donated $123 million to Republican campaigns and political action committees in 2018, and over the years has contributed millions of dollars in campaign financing to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who now enjoys the backing of Adelman's widow, Miriam.
Adelson famously tried to build a casino in Texas in 2020. As part of his effort, he launched a $2-million PAC to fund his lobbying campaign in support of HB477, a bill filed in November 2020, that would have allowed legalized casino gaming in coastal regions to provide for windstorm insurance.
Then, during the biannual 2021 legislative session, two separate sports betting bills were put up for consideration. One would have legalized online sports wagering throughout the state, and the other would have allowed for mobile sportsbooks to partner with Texas-based sports franchises or racetracks.
Following an April 2021 public hearing that saw presentations made by pro-gaming legislators and representatives from BetMGM, FanDuel, and DraftKings, the legislative session ended with both bills dying in the committee phase.
Follow the leader
Following in Adelson's footsteps, Cuban is undoubtedly counting on the deep connections between the Sands Corporation and the Texas political establishment to help pave the way for the passage of a new gaming bill.
The Sands Corporation is flush with billions in cash reserves after the March 2021 sale of its Las Vegas Strip assets, The Venetian, Palazzo, and The Venetian Expo, to New York-based Apollo Global Management Inc. and Vici Properties Inc., for $6.25 billion.
Cuban is looking to create a Jerry Jones-style sports and casino facility that will surpass in scope the billion-dollar AT&T Stadium, aka Jerry's World, where Jones's Dallas Cowboys play,
Cuban. who is notorious for his on-court rants at NBA referees and combative manner as a star on the Shark Tank TV series, believes that Texas needs a go-to resort destination that will not only generate massive sums in taxes on gaming and sports betting revenue, but also spur tourist travel to the state with gaming as part of the allure.
"Obviously, [the gaming bill] has got to pass the Legislature, and I’m not the politician to know all the elements there. But you’re talking about billions of dollars in revenue," said Cuban. "And it won’t be one of those things, I don’t think, where you ask the city and state for concessions"
Added Cuban: "Online gambling’s great because it’s fun for fans and everything. The reality is that a bunch of politicians in Texas have already said that mobile gaming only moves the needle a little bit. But destination resort casinos? That’s billions of dollars to the state. Big difference. We need to be a destination."
Fighting the good fight
The drive to legalize sports betting, both mobile and retail, is being promoted by the Sports Betting Alliance (SBA), founded in 2021 with the objective to promote legal sports betting in Texas.
The SBA is an organization led by four major U.S. sportsbooks — DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and Barstool Sportsbook (its parent company PENN Entertainment operates retail casinos in the neighboring state of Louisiana).
The group also comprises almost every major professional sports franchise in Texas including the state's two NFL clubs as well as its three NBA teams: the Mark Cuban-owned Dallas Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Houston Rockets (owned by Tilman Fertitta's Landry’s Inc., which owns Golden Nugget casinos in five states and could well be a future casino player in Texas.)
Back in the fold
In what was hardly a coincidence, two days after state Sen. Alvarado pre-filed her gaming resolution, the SBA announced that it had hired former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to act as its media point man.
Ever since, Perry has been loudly touring the state in support of sports betting legislation as part of a concerted effort to bring Texas in line with the 36 jurisdictions that have already legalized betting in the U.S.
The former governor has argued that it is high time that Texas passes legislation that regulates the illegal sports betting market in Texas that costs the state millions of dollars in lost annual tax revenues.
An Eilers & Krejci Gaming study has estimated that revenues from illegal sports betting in Texas came to $5.0 billion in 2021 and are projected to reach $8.7 billion in 2022.
"This is a way to regulate and to make legal this activity that is going to go on. The idea that somehow or another, people are going to stop betting on sports is a bit of a fallacy. Well, it is just not going to happen," Perry said.
