As Game 3 of the NBA Finals began Wednesday at the American Airlines Center, Patrick Dumont, the new co-owner of the Dallas Mavericks, sat courtside among a pantheon of Texas sports elite.
To his right: former NBA stars Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash, and three-time Super Bowl champion Emmitt Smith. Nearby, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who played high school and college football in Texas, also applauded.
Dumont, president of gambling giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. and billionaire son-in-law Miriam Adelson, along with his family, bought a majority stake in the Mavs from Mark Cuban late last year. The deal valued the franchise at $3.5 billion. He has been attending games regularly ever since and is happily adjusting to his new home away from home.
“I don’t think there are many cities in America where you can show up and everyone is just warm and hugging,” Dumont said at the team’s practice facility before Game 4 against the Boston Celtics, who had dominated the series and pushed Dallas ” to victory. the brink of liquidation. The Mavs ultimately won 122–84, although no NBA team has ever come back from a 0–3 playoff deficit. “There’s a lot of pride in being a Texan and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of.”
The Mavs purchase underscored the family’s efforts to deepen ties to the state, including Sands’ desire to build casino resorts that would attract money and jobs to Texas. But in a state that has resisted gambling attempts for years, Dumont said he and his family are willing to play the long game.
“We really want to live in the state of Texas,” the 49-year-old said, referring to LVS and casino gambling. “We believe this is a great investment opportunity and we are here for the long term. We will continue to talk about the benefits of what this means for the state of Texas and how it can benefit the communities in which these resorts will be located.”
Meanwhile, the basketball business is booming and Dallas is experiencing a professional sports renaissance. The Texas Rangers won the World Series last year. The Dallas Stars advanced to the NHL Western Conference finals. And the Mavs have exceeded the expectations of many basketball pundits. The city was on short list will host the FIFA World Cup final in 2026 and host the largest number of matches.
The NBA is close to signing new long-term broadcast deals that will pay the league approximately $76 billion more than 11 years – three times longer than the current deal. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said before the finals that the league would look to expand, possibly overseas, once negotiations for new television rights are completed. Las Vegas and Seattle are considered favorites for new NBA franchises. Mexico City is also a contender. Interest in the WNBA has skyrocketed since Kaitlyn Clark joined the league.
“The NBA is a multifaceted business,” Dumont said, sitting in the “Real Team MVP conference room,” where research for the upcoming NBA draft had to be shrouded in secrecy. “This is the media business, the hotel business and the culinary business. It’s all about experience. Those are the things we do well and think we can bring to Dallas.”
All this makes team ownership one of the fastest growing regions in the USA it is more convincing. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. builds new campus there will be approximately 5,000 employees in Dallas. BlackRock Inc. and Citadel Securities are among the investors backing the startup Texas Stock Exchange. The Dallas-Fort Worth area now has more financial workers than Chicago or Los Angeles, second only to New York.
“The state is growing for a reason,” he said. “There are good schools there. There are good communities. People work hard. A lot of companies are now trying to move here because they realize that not every state is run this way.”
Behind the scenes, the Adelson family is already laying the groundwork for the huge political challenge of legalizing gambling in Texas. The family recruited an army of lobbyists and increased its political spending. Adelson has contributed $16.5 million to Texas campaigns and political action committees since 2022, Texas Ethics Commission records show.
That level of spending shouldn’t be at risk given Adelson’s deep pockets. With a net worth of $33.1 billion, the 78-year-old widow of Sands founder Sheldon Adelson is among the 50 richest people on Earth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
This year, the Texas Legislature rejected bills that would have legalized online and casino gambling. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who oversees the legislation in the state Senate, said he would not hold a vote unless it received Republican support.
There are some early signs that political trends are changing. According to a January 2023 poll conducted by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, about 75% of Texans support legislation to bring casino-style resorts to Texas. And a Republican-backed bill proposing a constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling at resorts passed through a House committee last year, a first for Texas.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who received $1 million in campaign contributions from Adelson in 2022, has also signaled the casino’s openness.
“The question is how to do it in a way that suits Texas,” Dumont said. “How do you feel about sports betting? How do you feel about games? How to ensure receipt of tourism benefits? This is exactly what the discussion is about.”
For now, Dumont and his family have the support of other Texas tycoons.
Billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets and the Golden Nugget casino, has spent years protection Texas will join dozens of other states in allowing Las Vegas-style casino resorts, arguing it will spur job growth and bring more tourism dollars to restaurants, shops and hotels.
“Let’s do something to attract tourism, business travelers and conventions to Texas — and it has to be billion-dollar facilities,” he said in an interview in February. “We need to do this right and build a casino, not have a bunch of slot machines in every grocery store.”
Cuban, who still owns a minority stake in the Mavs and advises the team, talked about the potential for real estate development around the casino and arena.
“When you think of all the places you want to save money on a vacation, Texas is not one of them,” Cuban told the Dallas Morning News around the time of the sale to the Adelson clan. “There is no real destination to save money for. This is a problem and I think resort gaming will have a huge impact.”
There is still a lot of opposition. Rob Kohler, a lobbyist for the Christian Life Commission, the public policy arm of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, has been fighting gambling in the state for more than two decades.
“There was a lot of fuss about how much the Adelsons spent,” he said in an interview. “But they are not the first rich people to try to expand the scope of gambling. If it were a question of the amount of money spent, Texas would have seen an increase in gambling a long time ago.”
For now, Dumont says he’s focused on helping the team win.
“I am responsible for the success of the team,” he said. “I can’t give you the details of exactly what that will mean, but my goal is to be there and help the Mavericks have championship success.”