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As Game 3 of the NBA Finals tipped off at the American Airlines<\/a> Center on Wednesday, Patrick Dumont, the new co-owner of the Dallas Mavericks, sat courtside amid a pantheon of Texas athletic elite.<\/p>\n To his right: former NBA stars Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash, and three-time Super Bowl champion Emmitt Smith. Nearby, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who played high school and college football in Texas, was also cheering.<\/p>\n Dumont, the president of gambling giant Las Vegas Sands<\/a> Corp. \u2014 and son-in-law of billionaire Miriam Adelson \u2014 bought a majority stake in the Mavs with his family late last year from Mark Cuban. The deal valued the franchise at $3.5 billion. Since then, he\u2019s been a regular at the games and is warmly acclimating to his new home away from home.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there are many cities in America where you can show up and everyone\u2019s just warm and embracing,\u201d Dumont said at the team\u2019s practice facility ahead of Game 4 against the Boston Celtics, who have dominated the series and pushed Dallas to the brink of elimination. The Mavs ended up winning, 122-84, though no NBA team has ever come back from a 0-3 playoff deficit. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of pride about being a Texan, and it\u2019s just a lot of fun to be part of.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The purchase of the Mavs punctuated the family\u2019s effort to deepen its ties in the state, including Sands\u2019 desire to build casino resorts that will draw dollars and jobs to Texas. But in a state that has resisted efforts for gambling for years, Dumont said he and his family are ready to play the long game.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really want to be in the state of Texas,\u201d the 49-year-old said, referring to LVS and casino gambling. \u201cWe think this is a great investment opportunity and we\u2019re here for the long term. We\u2019re going to keep talking about the virtues of what this means for the state of Texas and how it can benefit the communities that these resorts will be located in.\u201d<\/p>\n In the meantime, the business of basketball is flourishing and Dallas is in the midst of a professional sports renaissance. The Texas Rangers won baseball\u2019s World Series last year. The Dallas Stars made it to the NHL\u2019s Western Conference Finals. And the Mavs exceeded the expectations of many basketball pundits. The city was on the\u00a0short list<\/a>\u00a0to host the World Cup Final in 2026, and will host the most matches.\u00a0<\/p>\n The NBA is close to signing new long-term broadcasting agreements that would pay the league about\u00a0$76 billion<\/a>\u00a0over 11 years \u2014 three times its current deal. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said before the Finals that the league will turn to expansion, possibly overseas, after it completes the new TV rights negotiations. Las Vegas and Seattle are both looked at as favorites for new NBA franchises. Mexico City is also a contender. The WNBA has seen a surge of interest after Caitlin Clark joined the league.<\/p>\n \u201cThe NBA is a multifaceted business,\u201d Dumont said, sitting in the team\u2019s \u201cReal MVP Conference Room,\u201d where research for the upcoming NBA draft had to be covered for secrecy. \u201cIt\u2019s a media business, a hospitality business and a culinary business. It\u2019s all about experience. Those are the types of things we do well and think we can bring to the city of Dallas.\u201d<\/p>\n All that makes owning a team in one of the\u00a0fastest-growing regions<\/a>\u00a0in the US more compelling. Goldman Sachs<\/a> Group Inc. is building a\u00a0new campus<\/a>\u00a0that will house about 5,000 employees in Dallas. BlackRock<\/a> Inc. and Citadel Securities are among investors backing an upstart\u00a0Texas stock exchange<\/a>. The Dallas-Fort Worth area now has\u00a0more finance workers<\/a>\u00a0than Chicago or Los Angeles, trailing only New York.<\/p>\n \u201cThe state\u2019s growing for a reason,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s good schools. There\u2019s good communities. People are working hard. A lot of companies are trying to move here now because they realize that not every state is run this way.\u201d<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, the Adelson family is already laying the groundwork to face an immense political challenge to legalize gambling in Texas. The family recruited an army of lobbyists and ramped up its political spending. Since 2022, Adelson has poured $16.5 million into Texas campaigns and political action committees, Texas Ethics Commission records show.\u00a0<\/p>\n That level of spending shouldn\u2019t be at risk given Adelson\u2019s deep pockets. With a net worth of $33.1 billion, the 78-year-old widow of Sands founder Sheldon Adelson is one of the 50 richest people on Earth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.<\/p>\n This year, the Texas Legislature voted down bills that would have legalized online and casino gambling. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who controls legislation in the state senate, has said he won\u2019t bring a vote to the floor unless it has Republican support.<\/p>\n There are some early signs that the political tides are shifting. About 75% of Texans support legislation to bring casino-style resorts to Texas, according to a January 2023 poll by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston. And a Republican-backed bill proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing casino gambling at destination resorts made it out of a house committee last year \u2013 a first for Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n Governor Greg Abbott, who got $1 million in campaign contributions from Adelson in 2022, has also signaled openness on casinos.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question is how to do it in a way that\u2019s right for Texas,\u201d Dumont said. \u201cHow do you deal with sports wagering? How do you deal with gaming? How do you ensure that you get the tourism benefit? That\u2019s really what the discussion is about.\u201d<\/p>\n For now, Dumont and his family have the support of other Texas tycoons.<\/p>\n\n