In the weeks after Las Vegas Sands’ largest shareholder Miriam Adelson acquired majority ownership of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, the company acquired land near the Texas city more than four times larger than the Sands’ past footprint on the Las Vegas Strip.

On Friday, Las Vegas Sands spokesman Ron Reese confirmed a Dallas Business Journal report that an entity affiliated with the company had acquired eight land parcels totaling 259 acres in the Dallas suburb of Irving. 

The land is near the now-demolished Texas Stadium, the past home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and adjacent to State Highway 114 and Loop 12, two major arterials. It is also in close proximity to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the nation’s second-busiest airport.

“The purchase of the land is accurate and the company may decide to purchase additional real estate in the [Dallas-Fort Worth] area in the future,” Reese wrote in an email.

The company’s plans for the location could include a basketball arena. Adelson controls a 52 percent stake in the team after selling more than $2 billion worth of Sands stock earlier this month to pay for the undisclosed majority stake in the team, which is valued at $3.5 billion.

The combined size of the total parcels is more than four times larger than the 63-ace Las Vegas Strip site where the company built The Venetian, Palazzo and Venetian Expo. 

Texas does not have casinos or sports betting, but it’s not for the lack of trying by Las Vegas Sands. The company has pushed casino legislation for Texas over the last decade and spent more than $12 million combined during the past two legislative sessions on lobbying for ultimately failed casino legalization measures. 

Although company officials have not said the land has anything to do with potential Texas gaming legislation — lawmakers meet for 140 days every two years, with the next session in 2025 — analysts said having a site that large will allow Sands the opportunity to plan for other developments surrounding a gaming complex, such as a golf course, high-end residential and other attractions that could draw visitation.

Las Vegas Sands does not operate a casino in the U.S. following the sale of its Strip holdings for $6.25 billion in February 2022. The company intends to bid for one of three potential New York City-area gaming licenses, targeting a location on Long Island, but is facing legal challenges.

Still headquartered in Las Vegas, the company founded by the late billionaire and GOP mega-donor Sheldon Adelson only operates casinos in Macau and Singapore. It reported a combined revenue of almost $7.5 billion from the two markets in the first nine months of 2023.

Cuban weighs in

Mark Cuban, who sold the majority share in the Mavericks to Adelson, gave up his seat on the NBA’s Board of Governors to Sands President Patrick Dumont (Adelson’s son-in-law) but will retain full operational control of the team. Cuban wants a new arena for the NBA franchise. 

Cuban was a technology billionaire when he purchased the Mavericks from H. Ross Perot Jr. in 2000 for $285 million. He turned the franchise into a perennial contender that won the NBA title in 2011. The Mavericks have the NBA’s second-highest winning percentage (59.6 percent) since Cuban bought the team.

He also believes Texas should legalize casinos.

Cuban told the ABC affiliate in Dallas that a new arena and "hopefully a future resort casino" in partnership with Sands would come to fruition. He supported a Sands-backed legislative effort that failed earlier this year that would have landed a single Las Vegas-style casino resort in each of Texas’ four largest cities.

According to The Associated Press, Cuban was interested in partnering with Sands on a hotel-casino complex in Dallas that would include a new arena for the Mavericks.

"I think if resort casinos pass, Dallas becomes a top five travel destination in the country," Cuban told WFAA. "Which is why I think, at some point, it will. Imagine creating a Venetian or Bellagio that you've seen in Vegas … in Dallas, in Austin, or Houston.”