Miriam Adelson, the Nevada-based owner of Las Vegas Sands and majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, has donated $13.7 million to Texas politicians in favor of gambling expansion.
Las Vegas Sands unsuccessfully invested in bringing gambling to Texas when Adelson’s late husband, Sheldon Adelson, was still in charge of the company. Sands sold its U.S. casino interests shortly after Sheldon’s 2020 death, and his widow cooled on political contributions for several years.
In 2023, Adelson dipped back into political funding. In 2024, the billionaire casino owner upped the stakes. She put up big money for President-Elect Donald Trump’s election campaign, and now for potential Texas gambling legislation.
The Donations
The Texas Legislature is set to meet for its biannual session between January and June 2025. This week, The Dallas Morning News broke the story of Adelson’s donations ahead of the key political period.
The billionaire casino magnate sent $13.7 million the way of Texas politicians, mostly Republicans, that are amenable to introducing legal gambling in the Lone Star State. In 2023, Adelson put down $3.3 million backing similar attempts that failed.
As per political financing regulations in the U.S., only a small amount of that total was donated personally. The majority was sent to two Political Action Committees, which then chose candidates to support.
Through those PACs, Adelson’s money found its way to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick ($200,000) and House Speaker Dade Phelan ($1.02 million), as well as dozens of other key lawmakers.
Adelson also directly sent Phelan $50,000, which was her only personal donation.
Texas Gambling Prospects
Now majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, Adelson has more skin in the game. Her late husband mainly saw the appeal of Texas casino resorts, envisioning giant Las Vegas style casino resorts — operated by Sands, of course.
But Miriam may now also see the value of legal sports betting. The market has a potential to rival New York as the biggest in the U.S. It would also be a sure-fire way to boost the value of a major Texas sports team.
Las Vegas Sands has gone as far as to reportedly make a covert purchase of 108 acres of land in Irving, Texas.
Previous to her $3.5 billion purchase of the Mavericks from Mark Cuban earlier this year, the pair of billionaires openly discussed the idea of collaborating on a Texas casino resort.
However, getting legal gambling passed in the Lone Star State may still be a long shot. Some 56% of Texans support legalizing casino resort destination gambling, and 47% support sports betting.
However, Governor Patrick has been adamant there is no Senate support for the measure. He may have received $200,000 from PAC money donated by Adelson, but that does not guarantee his support on any one political issue.
Last year, the House approved a bill on legal sports betting, but Patrick did not call for a vote on it in the Senate.
“I’ve said repeatedly there is little to no support for expanding gaming from the Senate GOP. I polled members this week. Nothing changed. The senate must focus on issues voters expect us to pass,” he wrote online.
“We don’t waste time on bills without overwhelming GOP support. HB1942 won’t be referred.”
It is, however, possible that new President Donald Trump’s opinion (if he has one) may sway some in the Texas legislature, as Adelson was also a big financial backer of his campaign.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
