Las Vegas Sands Launches Effort to Legalize Texas Casinos

Dallas Mavericks owners Miriam Adelson (center) and Mark Cuban (right) high five as fellow team owner and Las Vegas Sands executive Patrick Dumont (left) looks on. Together these three are all-in on bringing legal casinos to Texas. (Image: Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press / Alamy)

A group known as the Texas Destination Resort Alliance (TDRA) is calling on officials in the Lone Star State to legalize casino gambling within its borders. 

After legislative efforts failed in 2023, TDRA on Monday posted a petition online asking Texans voice their support for the cause. 

TDRA is backed by Las Vegas Sands, which operates casinos in Macao and Singapore and previously owned several properties in Las Vegas. 

Las Vegas Sands is owned by the Adelson and Dumont families, who purchased the Dallas Mavericks in late 2023, giving the group a vested interest in Texas.

Petition Aims to Show Support for Casino Push

“We’re a coalition of Texans from all walks of life, asking state legislators to allow us the opportunity to vote yes on a statewide constitutional amendment authorizing the development of destination resorts in the state’s major markets,” the TDRA website reads. 

The group’s website promotes several benefits of the proposal, including funding for education, thousands of new jobs, and “billions of dollars” in economic investment. 

TDRA’s push for gaming expansion in Texas isn’t a plan they came up overnight. The effort began even before the Adelsons bought the Mavericks from Mark Cuban, who noted that the purchase was part of a vision to bring a combination arena and casino resort to the Dallas area. 

“The advantage is what can you build and where and you need to have somebody who’s really, really good at that,” Cuban, who kept a 27 percent stake in the team, said when the sale was announced. “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.”

Dallas Official Fears Being Left Behind

At least some local Dallas politicians are in support of the effort, if for no other reason than that they’re afraid other cities could get the benefits of potential casino legalization if they don’t jump in early. 

“If we’re sitting around on our hands once it becomes legalized, it’s a malpractice for us as a city to not put processes in place and plan for welcoming casinos in,” Dallas City Council Member Chad West said to Inside Texas Politics in January. 

“I guarantee you cities like Irving, Grand Prairie, certainly Arlington, are already looking at what happens in our city if legalization happens at the state level,” West said.

TDRA would need significant legislative support to get casinos into Texas, however. The move would require a state constitution to legalize gambling, which would require two-thirds support in both the Texas House and the Texas Senate. Voters would then also have to give their approval on a ballot initiative. 

Previous efforts to do so have come up well short. Last year, State Rep. Charlie Green (R-Fort Worth) created a bill that would allow casinos in Texas, but that legislation failed to pass the State House. Other previous efforts to clearly legalize poker in Texas or allow online sports betting have also failed to advance to a ballot initiative. 

Still, West said in January that he expects more movement in the legislature this year. 

“I would be shocked if it doesn’t happen in this session in some fashion or another,” West said. “Maybe not full legalization. Maybe just a few licenses here and there to sort of test out the waters like they did with medical marijuana. But I foresee something happening in this next session.”