Some in attendance believed the legalization of casino gambling was inevitable and that DFW state needed to prepare.
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As the casino legalization movement gathers momentum ahead of the 2025 legislative session, the North Texas Commission is forming a committee of business and community leaders to study issues related to resorts and casino gambling.
The “study committee” would look at the impacts of gambling in tourist destinations and make recommendations on issues such as economic development, workforce demand, infrastructure requirements, transportation and public safety impacts. Elected officials, tourism leaders, economic development officials, chamber of commerce members and religious and faith-based representatives are all open to application, NTC Chief Operating Officer Patrick Brofey said. The committee is expected to launch in the fall.
“It’s open to our traditional target audience of North Texas commissioners, but it’s not just that, it’s inclusive of the full spectrum of our community, including social services, public safety, nonprofits, arts and entertainment, mental health professionals, business and industry leaders,” Brophy said. “We want equity across the region.”
Brophy said the NTC wants to represent all voices on the commission, from full supporters of casino gambling to skeptics and opponents.The call for applications came after a roundtable discussion held by the NTC and the Texas Business Association in Hearst on July 24, where executives from Las Vegas Sands Corp. explained to business leaders why tourism gaming would benefit Texas, particularly the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Sands (NYSE: LSV) and its largest shareholder, billionaire Miriam Adelson, have spent millions in recent years trying to legalize casino gambling in Texas. According to the Dallas Morning News, Sands hired 76 lobbyists and spent $6.7 million in Austin in 2021. Despite their efforts, the bill failed to pass.
Adelson has donated more than $13 million to Texas’ primary and runoff elections this year, and a political action committee linked to Sands has spent more than $2.5 million supporting candidates, including House Speaker Dade Phelan.
As part of this move, Adelson and his family bought a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban in December. Cuban, who owns a 27% stake in the NBA franchise, has floated the idea of building a resort-casino anchored by a new arena in Dallas. He has said that such a project could put Dallas in the top five U.S. tourist destinations.
Abboud and NTC CEO Chris Wallace said at the roundtable that they hope the Texas Legislature will pass a constitutional amendment to give voters a say in casino gambling, which requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of the state legislature and the support of a majority of the state’s voters.
Abboud said that if the amendment passes, Sands and other destination gaming advocates expect the state would move toward issuing a limited number of licenses through a competitive bidding process. Each region in Texas would get a few licenses, and “probably” a few other destinations in the state would get licenses as well, Abboud said. He said it’s important to limit the number of licenses to maximize the economic impact of destination resorts.
“It doesn’t have to be everywhere,” Abboud said. “It’s like an NFL team or an MLB team, it doesn’t have to be everywhere. If you shrink the market, you’re just going to get less investment and less economic impact.”
In his presentation, Abboud emphasized the difference between “destination resorts” and casinos. Properties like those Sands is developing have huge convention spaces and are based on integrating business travel, luxury gaming and entertainment into one destination. Abboud argued that such resorts have significant economic impacts, including trickle-down effects on suppliers and other companies that benefit from their presence.
“The basic idea here is that if you build something really great that will become an iconic tourist destination, a rising tide will float all boats,” Abboud said.
Dallas-Fort Worth, in particular, could benefit from a convention venue, Abboud said. He noted that Las Vegas alone has 15 million square feet of convention venues. He said the larger venues would allow for bigger shows to be held and also allow the region to use existing venues more efficiently. Typically, it takes three to four days to set up a show, then the show lasts three to four days, then it takes another few days to tear down, he said.
“If we don’t have the space to host multiple large conventions at once, then we’re effectively only able to use that much space for a third of the year,” Abboud said.
An economic impact study conducted for the Sands by Rice University economics professor George Zodorow ahead of the final legislative session in 2023 estimated that gambling could pump $13 billion into the Texas economy and create 70,000 full-time jobs. The study found that Dallas-Fort Worth could expect to see an increase in tax revenue of $34.7 million from continuing operations, including $5.9 million in sales taxes, $28 million in property taxes and $700,000 in other non-gambling taxes.
Abboud said the study will be updated ahead of next year’s legislative session.
Some panelists raised concerns about safety and crime, citing statistics that showed crime rates rose in surrounding areas after casinos opened. Abboud countered that the crime rates were “false.” He said Pennsylvania’s crime rate has fallen since Sands converted the former Bethlehem Steel plant into a resort, and that Las Vegas’ crime rate is comparable to other big cities.
“Economic profit and economic growth don’t cause crime,” Abboud said. “They reduce crime.”
In response to other criticisms, Aboud said the rate of gambling addiction is low — around 1 to 2 percent — and that legalizing gambling would give Texas money to help its residents who already gamble across the border in Oklahoma.
One participant also noted that the jobs that casinos would bring would not be the typical high-tech, high-paying jobs that NTC typically aims to bring to Texas.
“The jobs we provide are needed by many people and we can’t get enough of the increased jobs and visitors in our community,” Abboud said. “People are moving from all over, and I want to be clear: people are moving to Texas from all over the world because of the opportunities.”
Some in attendance believed the legalization of casino gambling was inevitable and that DFW state needed to prepare.
“We can talk about where it’s going to go, what it’s going to do, what it’s going to look like, but the reality is … it’s going to happen,” Irving Mayor Rick Stouffer said, “So where we are as a metropolitan area, relative to the rest of the state, is are we prepared for it?”
