Las Vegas Sands Purchased Texas Land Before Owner’s Dallas Mavericks Bid

Article ByDavid Weir

December 12, 2023

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Posted in: Texas Gambling News, US Casino News, US Gambling News

Reports have emerged this week that giant casino operator Las Vegas Sands has purchased a 108-acre plot in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area of Texas.

In late July, a limited liability corporation (LLC) named Village Walk RE 2 LLC, with ties to Las Vegas Sands, purchased the site just across from the former Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving.

The transaction, worth $22.4 million, took place just months before Las Vegas Sands’ majority owner Miriam Adelson’s recent sale of $3.5 billion in company shares to fund her acquisition of a majority stake in the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.

The acquired land, previously a North Texas trucking terminal, is well-situated for visitors from all over the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It is also connected to the old Texas Stadium site by a new, $45-million bridge.

This acquisition is seen as a part of a larger vision for legal Texas casinos. Sands and current but soon-to- be-former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban have long supported opening a casino resort complex in the DFW area.

The plans could transform the site into an integrated resort, potentially including a mixed-use space with housing, retail, and entertainment options.

Ties to Dallas Mavericks and Future Developments

The purchase of this land coincides with Dr. Miriam Adelson’s acquisition of a majority interest in the Dallas Mavericks. Mark Cuban, the previous owner of the Mavericks, has recently and publicly expressed interest in collaborating with Sands to build a new arena in Dallas, potentially integrated with a casino resort.

Village Walk RE 2 LLC, the entity that purchased the land, shares an address with Sands’ business location in Las Vegas, 5420 S. Durango Dr. in Las Vegas. That indicates a clear connection between the two.

This move has ignited speculation about the future of legalized gambling and sports betting in Texas.

Las Vegas Sands has long expressed interest in expanding its footprint in the Texas and Dallas-Fort Worth region. Under the stewardship of founder Sheldon Adelson, the company spent millions of dollars lobbying Texas lawmakers to approve integrated resorts in the state.

However, that interest seemed to cool somewhat after Sheldon’s death in 2021. Now, Miriam Adelson has put it back on the table.

Hurdles to Overcome

Unfortunately for Sands and Cuban, there remains plenty of opposition to legal Texas casinos.

Most recently, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick told news media that he couldn’t see the integrated resort-style venues coming to the state anytime soon.

The historically conservative Lone Star State is also one of the richest in America, so the usual economic arguments for legal gambling don’t hold as much as weight as they do in some others.

For example, Texas lawmakers this year announced a $32.7 billion budget surplus. Compare that to New York, which has a predicted $4.3 billion budget deficit coming up for 2023.

That must have been partly considered when the state started its ongoing effort to expand the list of casinos in New York with three new licenses in 2024, and it was explicitly mentioned by two powerful state politicians in a recent open letter supporting the introduction of Empire State online casinos.

Back in Texas, Lt. Governor Patrick did not explicitly state that casino resorts will never happen – but he was fairly adamant it wouldn’t be anytime soon.

“Big things don’t happen overnight,” Patrick said. “You got to get in the trenches and grind it out.”

Regardless of whether his opinion on lawmakers’ positions is correct or not, the Texas Legislature doesn’t meet again until 2025. So it will be at least a few years until the issue is even debated by politicians.