A petition has been filed by the Texas Destination Resort Alliance, a coalition financially backed by the Dallas Mavericks owners’ Las Vegas Sands Corp., to legalize casino gambling in the Lone Star State.

Dallas Mavericks owners’ Las Vegas Sands Corp. supports petition for luxury resorts, casino-style gambling in Texas

The Adelson and Dumont family are now the official owners of Mavericks. The family also owns the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which helps fund the Texas Destination Resort Alliance.

The petition states it is “fighting to bring luxury resorts, top-of-the-line entertainment, fine dining, and more to Texans’ backyards” by “expanding casino-style gambling” into Texas.

However, casino gambling and sports betting remain illegal in the state. 

A Dallas City Council committee held a briefing in January about gambling in Texas and the potential end result of casinos coming to the state. Dallas City Council Member Chad West told Inside Texas Politics the city of Dallas is already planning for future legalization. 

“And 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,” West said. 

“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.”

For the legalization of gambling in Texas, two-thirds of the House and Senate must approve of legislation 

Patrick Dumont, who is acting governor of the Mavericks and President and Chief Operating Officer for Las Vegas Sands Corp., said on the corporation’s quarterly investor call in January that they were “actively trying to facilitate the development of integrated resorts in the State of Texas and through the liberalization of gaming.”

“Over time, we hope that it happens. I can’t tell you when it’s going to be, but we’re very focused on it as a company, and we like the opportunity to develop some very unique tourism assets, specifically in Dallas,” Dumont added.

In order to change the state constitution and legalize gambling, two-thirds of the Texas House (100 of 150 Representatives) and Texas Senate (21 of 31 Senators) would have to approve legislation. Voters would then have to approve it on a ballot.

Although there is not enough support among Republicans in the state Senate, Dumont believes Texas is still destined to join the 38 states and Washington D.C. in the legalization of gambling. 

“I would be shocked if it doesn’t happen this session in some fashion or another,” West said. “I would guess the state does something. 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.”

A number of Texans are supporting any bill that is pushing for legalized betting.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones previously released a statement as part of the Texas Sports Betting Alliance. 

“It will give Texans the ability to decide for themselves if they want this activity safely regulated or continue to be conducted in the shadows by out-of-state betting platforms,” Jones said.

A number of Mavericks and Cowboys fans seem to support legalized gambling.