Despite heavy pushes from former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and the Sheldon family, which owns many of the top casinos in Las Vegas, to open retail casinos in the Dallas-Arlington area, it seems the brakes are being pumped. It appears that Texas’ Senate is having doubts about pursuing bills to make sports betting and commercial gambling legal in the Lone Star State in 2025.
Despite massive campaigning and donations from Miriam Adelson, the widow of the late Sheldon Adelson of the Las Vegas Corp, Texas’ Senate is voicing concerns about the impact that retail casinos would have in the state. Historically, Texas has been super conservative like most southern states, including Alabama, when it comes to organized gambling. Even with Adelson donating millions to gambling-friendly political PACs and even over $1 million in campaign funds for Governor Abbott, it didn’t help matters that Texas’s Republican Convention unfurled programs that are against organized gambling.
With Texas’s legislature divided on partisan lines, the topic of legalizing land-based casinos is a hot one, especially for Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. Patrick, who plans on winning a second term as Lt. Governor in 2026, voiced his frustration with getting compliant casino legislation across party lines.
Despite more Democrats in Texas’ state senate, the Republications still hold a slim majority in the Senate. But despite having a slim majority and massive campaign donations, for some odd reason, Texas’ Senate hasn’t seriously advanced the issue of legalized casinos. Unless Lt. Governor Patrick changes his tune, it appears Texans will be out of luck in having definitive casino legislation passed in 2025.
But despite the lack of interest from Texas’ Senate, current Mavericks’ president Patrick Dumont and the Sheldon family are gearing up for a longer and quiet battle to legalize casinos in Texas. The Las Vegas Sands recently closed the Venetian and the Palazzo, having a casino in the Dallas area would be a major feather in the Sands’ cap.
So, having a casino in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area makes strategic sense, considering that it is the fifth largest and most significant television market in the nation. Even though the Dallas Mavericks recently lost the NBA Finals to the Celtics, the promotions and publicity from legalized sports betting and organized gambling are there. With Mavericks fever at an all-time, and perhaps some public persuasion might be enough to get Texas’ Senate to change their tune in the near future.
