Could a Casino Resort Come to Irving?

Preceding their recent purchase of the Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban, the Adelson family acquired a large tract of land in a suburb northwest of Big D.

An affiliate of Las Vegas Sands, which is owned by Miriam Adelson, bought 108 acres in Irving several months before it struck an agreement to buy the Mavericks for $3.5 billion, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The property is located across State Highway 114 from where the Dallas Cowboys used to play; the old Texas Stadium was demolished in 2010.

While plans for the site are unclear, the purchase raises speculation that it could be used for a casino-resort development — the bread and butter for Las Vegas Sands thanks to its late founder, Sheldon Adelson.

The Irving purchase was reflective of the company’s long standing interest in Dallas-Fort Worth and unrelated to the Mavericks deal, said Las Vegas Sands spokesperson Ron Reese.

The Adelson family wishes to build an integrated resort property in DFW, and more land acquisitions in the Irving area are likely to ensue, Reese said.

The Adelsons’ expertise in real estate development was a factor in Cuban’s decision to sell the team, as the billionaire entrepreneur has been wanting to build a casino-resort development with a place for the Mavericks, in partnership with Las Vegas Sands.

Sports betting and casinos are illegal in Texas, but the Adelson family’s political influence could sway state legislators to legalize gambling and prompt casino-resort developments. A Sands-backed proposal to allow such developments was killed earlier this year, but it advanced further than similar ones from the past, signaling that the Lone Star State could be warming up to the idea.

The Irving sale could raise questions about the team possibly relocating its gameday venue to Irving, but Cuban, who still owns some shares of the team and remains head of basketball operations, tried to squash that idea.

“I will say on the record: the team is not moving anywhere,” Cuban told the outlet. “We are the Dallas Mavs.”

The Dallas City Council is also working to ensure that the team stays in the city. Lease agreements for the Mavericks and the NHL’s Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center aren’t set to expire until 2031.

—Quinn Donoghue