In a 5-4 vote, the Irving Zoning Commission March 18 approved zoning changes for a 1,001-acre site that could eventually become a mixed-use development from the Las Vegas Sands Corporation (LVS) centred around a casino resort.
The vote came at 2.30 a.m. local time after several hours of discussion, per WFAA. Two approvals were granted – one to change the overall site to a high-intensity mixed-use development and another to switch two specific tracts within the development from transit-oriented mixed-use community to high-intensity mixed-use.
However, on March 20, the company reversed course and requested to the Irving City Council that the casino gaming portion of the development be removed from the proposal. The company cited growing pushback from local residents, who came out in full force at the zoning meeting, as well as the unlikelihood of casinos being legalized in the state.
“At this time, given the current status of gaming expansion legislation in the state and certainly some of the concerns that are being spoken in our several meetings here, Sands has asked the Irving City Council to remove the destination resort and gaming component from the proposal initially sent to you and instead consider approval of the balance of the uses in the rezoning entitlement,” Mark Boekenheide, LVS senior vice president of global real estate development, told the city council, per WFAA.
As of now, it seems all but certain that 2025 will be another failed gambling expansion campaign for Texas. According to the Texas Tribune, several pro-gambling legislators were replaced with opponents this year. Three more who did support expansion last session have flipped.
The group of legislators penned a letter to representative Ken King, who chairs the house state affairs committee, telling him that any gambling expansion was “dead on arrival.” In Texas the legislature meets only in odd years, meaning that casino hopes are likely sidelined until 2027.
