The Boston Celtics won their first NBA title in 16 years this month, beating the Dallas Mavericks. For the Mavs it marked the first playoff run under new ownership. Last year, Patrick Dumont and a group which included the Adelson family purchased a majority stake in the team from Mark Cuban for $3.5 billion.
Dumont, the son-in-law of Miriam Adelson— widow of Las Vegas Sands Corp. founder, Sheldon Adelson—said his ownership group can bide their time on the state of Texas legalizing gambling. Meantime, the focus remains on the team itself.
“We’re patient,” Dumont said ahead of Game 4 of the NBA Finals, according to CBS Austin. “We think long term.”
Still, the family anticipates a new arena for the team along with a possible casino resort.
“It’s been unbelievable to be a part of,” Dumont said of the Mavericks’ playoff journey, “but really we’re looking to the future as well.”
Cuban remains very active as alternate governor of the team. (Dumont is the other governor) He attends games and retains his involvement in basketball operations.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver praised the relationship. “Patrick appreciates Mark’s ongoing engagement, particularly on the basketball operations side where he’s been very hands-on for many years,” he said, per CBS Austin.
Dumont highlighted the Adelson family’s dedication to developing tourism assets, noting the potential benefits for Dallas as a tourist destination.
“If you look at what we do, we’re ground-up developers in scale, and we develop for both business and leisure tourism,” Dumont said, referring to casino gaming. “It’s something we’re thinking about, we’re working on. We’re spending a lot of time explaining to people what it means in terms of investment. Over time, hopefully we’ll be successful. Now, as part of that, we need casino gaming because of the scale of our investments.”
Texas Republican leaders remain opposed to gambling and believe they have the voters in their corner.
