Texas Casino-Arena Entertainment District Plan
Casinos may be illegal in Texas, but Mark Cuban’s plans for a gaming resort to include a new arena development for his Dallas Mavericks is receiving support from some business leaders in the city.
Cuban recently announced he was selling a majority stake in the team to the Sands Corporation’s Miriam Adelson, the perfect partner if the plan becomes reality. At least some officials in the Dallas area have gotten on board and have even begun considering where the project might be built.
“Imagine creating a Venetian or Bellagio that you’ve seen in Vegas … in Dallas, in Austin or in Houston,” Cuban said in early December at an event in Austin.
Developers, Architects Weigh in on TX Casino-Arena Plans
Some around the state are already considering the possibilities. Mark Williams, with the Dallas-based architecture firm HKS, told the Dallas Business Journal that the idea of a sports arena incorporated into a casino project offers the chance at some unique design elements incorporated as a part of the city.
Williams was part of the teams that helped design two of the Dallas area’s iconic sports venue, AT&T Stadium (home of the Dallas Cowboys) and Globe Life Field (home of the Texas Rangers), as well as SoFi Stadium in California and Chengdu Phoenix Hill Sports Park in China. He believes the prospect of designing the project brings something new to a traditional arena or casino.
“It’s all about designing the integration of those two components so that they’re done in a sophisticated way,” he said. “It’s not just, ‘they’re next to each other’ or ‘turn left or turn right.’ It’s really taking it to the next level (and figuring out) a very high-level way to design those two components.”
Barry Hand, with the Dallas firm Gensler, echoed some of those comments and envisioned something like the L.A. Live venue or Deer District in downtown Milwaukee. Both incorporate major retail and entertainment options beyond simply sports. He predicts the entire development may take as many as eight years to complete.
“Sands and Mark Cuban and basically the Dallas Mavericks operation, if they are to do this larger, mixed-use project, you’re probably talking 25 to 40 acres to fully co-brand and maximize that brand experience,” Hand said. “To really maximize a big idea, you would need to get up around something like that.”
The North Texas area has some similar venues incorporating some of these elements, including the Cowboys’ “The Star” training facility in Frisco, which features retail and other options as part of the development. The Texas Live! venue near the Rangers’ stadium has a similar entertainment/retail atmosphere.
The latter facility is owned by the Cordish Companies, and chairman and CEO David Cordish told the Journal that a mixed-development area could be a major addition to the area. The Baltimore-based company has developed similar casino venues in Florida and Cordish’s Maryland Live! casino is actually adjacent to a mall in Hanover, Maryland.
“The idea of combining entertainment and mixed use around a casino is absolutely the winning formula,” Cordish said.
Where might the possible casino and arena eventually be located? D magazine believes that could be the suburb of Irving, the former home of the Cowboys’ Texas Stadium. The venue was imploded in 2010 and the magazine reports that Sands purchased 108 acres across from that site in July. The property is valued at $22.5 million on tax rolls and is registered to an attorney’s office in Houston, but taxpayer records indicate an additional address.
“The mailing address for the account is 5420 S. Durango Dr., Las Vegas, Nevada,” D notes. “That also happens to be the address of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which is owned by Miriam Adelson, the woman who now controls the Dallas Mavericks.”
Seeing casino gaming in Texas is a matter of conjecture at this point. Similar efforts at legalization failed in the last legislative session and because the legislature only meets every two years, the next opportunity isn’t until 2025. Any expanded gaming would then need to be approved by voters. Cuban and Sands appear to be playing the long game when it comes to legalizing casinos in the state.
North Carolina Mobile Sports Betting Update
In other gaming news, North Carolina sports bettors will have to wait for online betting until the close of the NFL season. The state’s lottery commission recently announced that there are still too many regulatory hurdles to see betting begin by Jan. 8, the first date wagering could legally start. NC Mobile sports betting arrival stands delayed.
The commission has until June 15 to allow operators to begin accepting bets. The commission also announced that no casinos in the state have yet announced any partnerships with online sportsbooks.
