DALLAS — Read this story and more North Texas business news from our partners at the Dallas Business Journal
Whether or not gambling becomes legal in Texas, now is the time for local leaders to get involved in discussions about whether a destination resort casino would be a fit for Dallas, Mayor Eric Johnson said.
Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban has said his sale of a majority of the Dallas Mavericks to the Adelson family, which controls the Las Vegas Sands Corp. casino empire, is part of a bigger vision for building a new arena and casino resort. He dreams of Dallas becoming a "top-five travel destination" in the United States.
However, speaking before about 350 business leaders at a Dallas Regional Chamber luncheon on Dec. 12, Johnson said Cuban and his representatives haven't asked him to talk about the plan. The event represented the first time Johnson has spoken about Cuban's sale of the Mavericks publicly since the deal was announced.
"That's not something that just because the legislature said can happen, just happens," Johnson said. "I haven't been a part of those conversations. I don't feel like they're really happening. And I think at some point, if he's serious about really having casino gambling and he's serious about having it in Dallas, I think that's a conversation a lot of people are willing to have, but we haven't had it, just to be honest."
Casino gambling remains illegal in Texas despite efforts in recent years by Sands and other supporters to get legislation passed. Experts see Cuban's sale as part of a renewed push.
Johnson said the discussion in Austin is entirely separate from the one that needs to happen in Dallas. He said Cuban and city leaders would need to figure out where in Dallas a casino resort could even be located. Land-use questions would need to be answered and leaders would need to consider how such a destination would impact the communities around it, Johnson said.
For examples of how such tourism-focused destinations can spark debate, look no further than Frisco, where Universal Studios plans to build a $550 million theme park, Johnson said.
"This sounds good on one level, but there's another aspect of this, which is you're bringing a lot of people in here for a particular purpose that is not necessarily living in Frisco," Johnson said.
Bringing a casino resort to Dallas would change the fabric of the city, he said.
"That's a question that will come with having a major casino," Johnson said. "It really will change Dallas if you become a destination casino city. That's all stuff we're going to have to talk about at some point. ... And I'm not saying that it would be a particularly tense or difficult conversation, but it has to happen and it hasn't."
