Mavericks Won’t Get Casino in New NBA Arena in Dallas

The Dallas Mavericks won’t feature a casino inside of their new home arena, despite their leadership’s ties to the gambling industry.

Las Vegas Sands CEO Patrick Dumont, who is also the Governor of the Mavericks, said in a recent interview with The Athletic that a casino isn’t in the team’s plans as it searches for a new home facility. That’s despite owner and Dumont’s mother-in-law Dr. Miriam Adelson’s funding of lobbying efforts to legalize casino-style gambling in Texas.

Dumont cited space limitations as the primary reason behind abstaining from pursuing a casino.

Mavericks won’t get casino by home arena

Dumont and Adelson have not been very popular since they came into power with the NBA team in December 2023. Greenlighting a trade for Luka Doncic, earning the disapproval of former team owner Mark Cuban, and (factually unsupported) suggestions that they were tanking the team to force a relocation to  Las Vegas led Mavs fans to boo Dumont when he attended home games.

Through the rocky relationship, the Mavs’ casino-based leaders have been fond of a casino. But now, those ambitions won’t deter them from moving to a new location without a gaming destination. 

“To build what we want to build, there is not enough space,” Dumont said. “They won’t fit.”

The Mavericks are hoping to build a new home arena at the former site of the Valley View Mall in North Dallas. The venue was stripped down in 2023, and more than 100 acres of land were sold to organizations associated with Adelson.

Construction was never approved, although Dumont claimed that the team was hoping to move to a new home on the unoccupied land before the 2031-32 season. Their current venue at American Airlines Center is located at 2500 Victory Avenue in the Victory Park neighborhood near downtown Dallas.

Plans change

Cuban originally supported plans to build a casino inside the Mavericks’ new arena, provided that Text legalized gambling. However, his relationship with Adelson and Dumont deteriorated while he maintained a 27 percent minority stake. 

Texas is also no closer to legalizing the slot machines and live-dealer table games associated with casinos, sports betting, or any other form of gambling. That’s despite Las Vegas Sands having poured in nearly $10 million to its Texas political action committed ahead of Republican primaries in March.

“[The home arena and the casino] are on a different timeline anyway,” Dumont 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 okay.”

The Mavericks’ new facility is still expected to provide a jolt in economic stimulus. Plans call for at least one upscale hotel and a small entertainment venue adjacent to the court, where 2025 first-overall draft pick Cooper Flagg will lead his team through the Western Conference.

Dumont also assured The Athletic that the team will remain in Texas, despite theories that the owner’s Las Vegas ties would prompt a relocation to Sin City.

“We just need a new home,” he said.

The Mavericks are approaching the beginning of the new campaign with +250 odds of qualifying for the playoffs and +140 odds of participating in the Play-In Tournament.