Las Vegas Sands Doubles Down on Dallas Casino, Seeks to Bring Singapore to Texas
Posted on: November 19, 2025, 09:49h.
Last updated on: November 19, 2025, 10:09h.
- Las Vegas Sands continues to bet on casino legislation in Texas
- The Venetian Las Vegas developer wants to bring an integrated resort to Dallas
- The company has big plans for the North Texas city
Las Vegas Sands wants to build a casino resort the likes of which most Americans have never seen or experienced in the heart of Dallas. That’s according to the company’s longtime chief government lobbyist, Andy Abboud.
Sands’ senior vice president of government relations and community development for more than two decades, Abboud recently sat down with NBC 5 in Dallas-Fort Worth, where he said the casino company’s focus on Texas remains. Despite Sands’ preferred candidate for the Texas Senate District 9 seat being defeated in a special election earlier this month, the Marina Bay Sands owner-operator thinks state lawmakers in Austin will eventually come around to casino gambling.
Abboud said Sands, if allowed, would seek to bring an unparalleled hospitality and entertainment destination to Dallas — much larger than what’s found on the Las Vegas Strip and one that more closely resembles its Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Marina Bay Sands is considered the “gold standard” of the integrated resort (IR) industry, a term coined by Sands’ late founder, chairman, and CEO, Sheldon Adelson.
Adelson is credited with conceptualizing the all-encompassing resort casino that is complemented by vast convention and meeting facilities.
Bringing Singapore to Dallas
Texas remains free of commercial casinos. Sands has spent many millions of dollars in recent years trying to change that.
Everything is bigger in Texas, and if the state welcomes casinos, Abboud said they’ll get a resort that truly is unlike anything else in the US.
“This will be a hospitality product really unknown to the United States. There is not this level of facility even in Las Vegas,” Abboud said.
People need to rethink anything they’ve seen in Texas or Las Vegas and imagine a whole new level of entertainment and hospitality,” Abboud continued. “The bigger the footprint, the better. It gives us the opportunity not only to build something really creative without a lot of restrictions, but allows us to provide opportunities for other entrepreneurs to build businesses around us.”
Marina Bay Sands is among the largest resorts in the world. In July, Sands broke ground on an $8 billion expansion of the destination that will bring a fourth hotel tower to the three main towers connected by the iconic Sands Skypark Observation Deck and rooftop infinity pool.
Why Dallas? Abboud says the Seminole Tribe controls Florida, the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are already saturated, and California is too close to Las Vegas. Despite the many casino resorts in Oklahoma, Abboud says North Texas is most desirable.
Mark Cuban Collaboration
Billionaire Mark Cuban sold a 69% majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to Adelson’s widow, Dr. Miriam Adelson, in 2023 for $3.5 billion. Adelson, along with her son-in-law, Patrick Dumont, now leads the NBA franchise.
Cuban and Adelson have expressed interest in building a new NBA arena for the Mavs adjacent to an integrated resort casino in Dallas. Cuban believes the city, and the state as a whole, need new attractions to lure visitors.
Cuban, Adelson, and Sands face strong opposition to their gambling crusade. Conservative lawmakers have shown an unwillingness to get behind slot machines and table games, and faith-based organizations that carry much lobbying weight have repeatedly run successful campaigns against casinos.
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