Sands casino begins pulling together North Texas city leaders in gambling push

Las Vegas Sands, whose leadership owns the Dallas Mavericks, is back in North Texas. The company is looking to garner the support of the region’s business and city leaders for legalized gambling and destination resorts including casinos ahead of the 2025 legislative session.

The casino operator sent lobbyist Andy Abboud, senior vice president of government relations, to speak with leaders from Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving, Arlington, Farmers Branch and Visit Dallas at a Tuesday meeting in Hurst assembled by the North Texas Commission and the Texas Association of Business.

The North Texas Commission and Las Vegas Sands did not respond to interview requests from The Dallas Morning News. But the commission is looking to start a new “exploratory committee” by this fall to focus on how gambling could impact the region.

Some key figures at the meeting included Arlington mayor Jim Ross, Irving mayor Rick Stopfer and Dallas city council member Chad West. Farmers Branch mayor Terry Lynne was also in attendance, according to West.

Though West himself is not morally supportive of casinos and legalizing gambling, he thinks it’s time for the region, and Dallas specifically, to begin preparing in case legislation passes in 2025 or beyond, he said.

“I’m personally not a gambler and I don’t really want to be. But I do think it’s an industry that has an incredible economic impact opportunity,” he said. “I unequivocally believe Texas will legalize gambling and because of that, I think we have a fiduciary duty as representatives to be prepared for that.”

It’s not just Dallas that’s finding the need to prepare for gambling.

In Irving, 20 minutes west of Dallas, Sands has already purchased 108 acres across from the site of the Dallas Cowboys’ former stadium. Tuesday’s meeting was a good first step to bring leaders together for education on gambling, Irving mayor Stopfer said.

“We’re one of the areas that whenever anyone’s looking to do business, whatever the new trend of the day is, we usually get involved at some level in the conversation. It’s no different with gaming,” he said. “Where I think we need to be instrumental is in helping the legislature with regulations at the state level. But that could be two or 20 years from now.”

The North Texas Commission’s chief operating officer, Patrick Brophey, said he wants to open the commission’s application for its gambling committee to all of the region’s bigtime players, even those opposed to legalization.

“This is open to North Texas Commission members who we traditionally cater to, but well beyond that as well to get the full scope of our community including social services, public safety, nonprofits, arts and entertainment, mental health professionals and business and industry leaders,” Brophey said, according to The Dallas Business Journal. “We want parity across the region.”

Still, Dallas still has yet to look too deeply into how it could regulate gambling venues like destination resorts, West said.

“The bottom line is that it’s probably not going to happen this legislative session,” he said. “It’s really just about education right now. We don’t have to jump in to figure out the land use or the zoning just yet, but educating folks on what is destination gambling is what we need to do.”

During its presentation to North Texas leaders, Sands said it predicts that if Texas legalizes gambling, the state could add $13 billion to its gross domestic product, 70,000 new permanent jobs and 185,000 construction jobs based off a study from George Zodrow, professor of Economics at Rice University.

The study also predicts that D-FW stands to gain a $34.7 million increase in tax revenue. That number comes from adding up how operations could include a $5.9 million gain in sales tax, $28 million from property taxes and $700,000 in non-gambling taxes.

If a gambling amendment passes, the Sands’ Abboud envisions that the casino operator could put two destination resorts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and at least five in the state.

However, the goal would not be to flood the area with a barrage of new casinos.

“It doesn’t need to be everywhere,” Abboud said. “It’s like NFL teams or MLB teams… It doesn’t need to be on every corner. If you diminish the market, you diminish the investment and you’re just diminishing the economic impact that it can have.”

The investment that Sands is putting into legalized gambling in the Lone Star State has been immense. Beyond Sands owners Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont purchasing the Dallas Mavericks for $3.5 billion, Adelson is pumping millions of dollars into over 100 Texas lobbyists, according to data from the Texas Ethics Commission, with the hopes that they can turn the momentum in the gambling giant’s favor.

Adelson has spent at least $13 million this year in Texas for primary and runoff elections and is backing pro-gambling coalitions like the Texas Destination Resort Alliance.

Despite gambling having the support of the majority of Texans, efforts to get any form of it legalized have failed to cross the finish line in recent years. Legalizing it would take a constitutional amendment, which means it would also need voter approval.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has told the Dallas Morning News that pro-gambling legislation lacks the support of Senate Republicans and the Texas Republican Party platform, approved earlier this year, says: “We oppose any expansion of gambling, including legalized casino gambling.

“Based on what happened last session, I believe it’s generally understood that unless and until there is real movement and momentum in the Senate next session — meaning the Senate actually taking up and considering the issue — there is likely not going to be any meaningful action on it in the Texas House,” Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen said in a text message to The Dallas Morning News last month.

Still, West said it’s time for D-FW to prepare for how gambling could drastically reshape the region.

“I think what’s at issue here is the anticipation of what could come and will likely probably come at some point in the future,” he said. “With the financial implications of exactly how much tax revenue we’re losing every year to every state and Mexico, I think Austin will eventually come around. Dallas needs to be prepared for when that happens.”

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