The idea that the Adelson family could be open to selling the Dallas Mavericks just a few years after buying the franchise at a $3.5 billion evaluation sounds shocking on the surface. Dig a little deeper, though, and the timeline starts to make uncomfortable sense.
Texas attorney Christopher Kratovil, a litigation and appellate specialist and managing partner of Dykema’s Dallas office, recently laid out the clearest explanation yet. In short, the Adelsons’ grand plan for the Mavericks hinged almost entirely on casino gambling coming to Texas. That plan is now effectively stalled.
“Why would the Adelsons sell the Mavs just two years after buying the team? Because casino gambling is not coming to Texas anytime soon, and the only reason the Adelsons bought the Mavs was to serve as the anchor of a massive new casino-resort-arena.”
“But they misread the Texas Legislature, and despite tens of millions of dollars in political donations and lobbyist fees, casino gambling is no closer to coming to Texas than the day the Adelsons bought the team.”
In Texas, gambling, including sports betting and casino gaming, is tightly restricted under the state constitution and penal code, and no legal sports betting or casino gaming exists today.
In Texas, legal gambling would require approval through the Legislature, and the earliest window for passage is the 2031 session. That creates a timing conflict. The Adelsons’ broader plan depended on casino legalization before or during the construction of a new arena to replace the American Airlines Center, currently projected to open around September 2031. Without gambling revenue or legal certainty, that arena strategy loses its financial underpinning.
Part of the difficulty comes from Texas’s biennial legislature, which meets only in odd-numbered years, giving limited windows to pass expensive, complicated constitutional amendments. To succeed, any casino or sports betting amendment would need two-thirds approval in both chambers and then a statewide vote.
“Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is overwhelmingly likely to be reelected this November, and gambling will not pass the Texas Senate so long as he leads it. That means the earliest gambling could be legalized in Texas is the January-May 2031 Legislative session.”
“But what needs to happen by September 2031? The Mavs’ new arena to replace the AAC needs to open. In other words, the timing just doesn’t work for the Adelsons’ casino-resort-arena plan, so they are now open to selling the team.”
Several legislative proposals have been introduced in recent sessions, including joint resolutions that would allow casinos or regulated gambling, but none have moved out of committee or secured the support needed to reach the Senate floor. Even where bills like HJR 134 and SJR 82 have been filed to authorize casino gaming or sports betting, they currently remain only introduced, far from becoming law.
The key obstacle remains the Texas Senate, and specifically Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who controls the chamber’s agenda and has publicly opposed gambling legislation. As Kratovil noted, with Patrick likely to win reelection, the Senate will continue blocking gambling legislation.
That backdrop makes recent reports far less surprising. According to NBA insider Marc Stein, an unidentified Dallas investor group is exploring a purchase of the Mavericks and is interested in partnering with Mark Cuban, who still owns a significant minority stake. Cuban has openly admitted he regrets not opening the team up to a broader bidding war when he sold his majority share, even though he stands by the decision to sell.
Publicly, Patrick Dumont and the Adelson family have pushed back, saying they remain excited about the future of the franchise and the Cooper Flagg era. That may be true. Still, excitement does not fix a broken business model.
Since the Adelsons took over in December 2023, the Mavericks have gone 90- 95, traded Luka Doncic, and entered a full rebuild. Without casino revenue, the team looks much more like a traditional NBA asset than the transformative real estate and entertainment empire they envisioned.
Selling now, even at a premium, may be the cleanest exit. Franchise values continue to rise, NBA expansion is looming, and the Adelsons could recoup their investment without waiting years for Texas politics to change.
From the outside, it looks sudden. From the inside, it may simply be a miscalculation colliding with reality.
