Sands CEO Dumont Says Mavs Arena Plans Don’t Include Casino

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) CEO Patrick Dumont said the Dallas Mavericks’ quest for a new arena won’t include plans for a casino hotel.

In a recent interview with The Athletic, the gaming executive and governor of the NBA franchise said that even if Texas liberalizes its famously restrictive gaming laws, space constraints make it difficult to build a new NBA arena and an integrated resort at the desired site.

The Mavericks are aiming to build a new NBA venue at the former site of the Valley View Mall in North Dallas. The mall was torn down in 2023 and entities tied to the Mavericks own more than 100 acres there. In November 2023, Dr. Miriam Adelson, Dumont’s mother-in-law, acquired a nearly 70% interest in the NBA franchise that Dumont now runs. Construction hasn’t commenced at the Valley View site, but Dumont is aiming for the new arena to be ready for the 2031-32 season.

Casino on a ‘Different Timeline’

Sands and Adelson, the company’s largest individual shareholder, continue pouring millions of dollars into Texas politics in the hopes of compelling lawmakers there to soften stances on casino gaming, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX) is stridently opposed to gaming expansion. He sets the agenda for the State Senate, making it difficult to bring a casino project to life in Texas.

That underscores the point that Sands’ efforts to bring a casino to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex are longer-ranging and are unlikely to jibe with the arena timeline. Dumont acknowledges as much.

“They (the arena and the casino plans) are on a different timeline anyway,” he told The Athletic. “It was my dream to do both next to each other. … We are going to have to think about the two separately, which is OK.”

Even without a casino, the Mavericks’ new arena is expected to drive an uptick in economic activity in the Valley View as plans indicate at least one high-end hotel and a smaller entertainment venue will join the NBA stadium.

Mavericks Staying in Dallas

Soon after the Adelson/Dumont consortium acquired the Mavericks, rumors surfaced that the families could relocate the franchise – speculation that was heightened by the trade of superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers and Las Vegas’s well-known quest to land an NBA team.

However, Dumont reiterated that the Mavericks are staying put, telling The Athletic that the goal is to keep the team in Dallas and that “we just need a new home.”