Oklahoma Tribe worried about Mark Cuban selling Dallas Mavericks
Oklahoma tribal leaders with vested interests in Indian casinos are worried about Texas billionaire Mark Cuban selling his "controlling interest" in the NBA's Dallas Mavericks to the largest single shareholder of Las Vegas Sands .
Host Victor Rocha voiced these concerns on "The New Normal," a weekly webcast discussing pressing issues in the tribal gaming industry. Jason Giles, executive director of the Indian Gaming Association, and Matthew Morgan, president of the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association, discussed the implications of Cuba giving up majority control of an NBA team.
Cuban supports lifting ban on commercial casino gambling in Texas. He floated the idea of bringing a Las Vegas-style casino resort to Dallas and said he would be willing to partner with Sands.
Sands' lobbying efforts in Texas have been unsuccessful in recent years. But since Dr. Miriam Adelson, the widow of Sands Corp. founder Sheldon Adelson, who will become the majority owner of the Mavericks, wonders if her influence will sway more state lawmakers to push gaming forward.
Adelson is one of the richest women in the world. Her Forbes real-time net worth is $31.3 billion, making her the 45th richest person and the fifth richest woman in the world.
Sports Betting Controversy
Tribal casinos in Oklahoma are a major economic driver for many gambling tribes in the state. Casinos rely heavily on gamblers from Texas, with the Dallas-Fort Worth market being the main source for tribal resorts in the Sooner State.
The Choctaw Nation opened a $600 million integrated resort-casino in Durant in 2021, just 10 miles north of the Oklahoma-Texas border. The tribe also operates tribal casinos in Grants and Pocola through its Choctaw Casinos & Resorts company. Both are border towns, with Grant north of the Texas border and Pokola west of the Arkansas border.
In addition to the possibility of casinos opening in Texas in the coming years, tribes in Oklahoma are concerned that sports betting could be legalized in the Lone Star State. The tribe hopes to begin accepting sports betting soon to expand its market share.
To get into the sports betting space, the Choctaws hired three Texas sports legends in August - NFL greats Troy Aikman, who played for the Dallas Cowboys, and Darren Woodson, and MLB Hall of Famer Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez with the Texas Rangers Been doing that for most of my career.
Oklahoma tribes have been pushing for sports betting privileges but have yet to reach an agreement with Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), a member of the Cherokee Nation. Stitt surprised the tribes earlier this month by unveiling a sports betting plan that would allow the tribes to accept sports bets in person, but not online.
Stitt’s sports betting proposal would impose a 15% tax on tribal sports betting revenue. The governor also recommended that the state allow commercial online sports betting operators to establish, which would be required to pay a one-time licensing fee of $500,000 and annual renewal fees of $100,000, as well as pay 20% of gross revenue directly to the state.
The tribes quickly jumped on board, saying the proposal would effectively end their monopoly on casino gaming.
Sand and Sports Betting
Unlike many other major casino operators, Sands is not that enthusiastic about sports betting. Sheldon Adelson was never a fan of low-margin gambling operations, a mentality that continued into subsequent Sands administrations.
Adelson also strongly opposed online casino gaming and Internet sports betting. His widow did not comment on whether she supports further expansion of gambling or whether she believes Texas should enter the commercial gambling industry.
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Source: www.casino.org
