At the start of the year, casino gambling interests that pushed for the legalization of destination gambling in 2023 had every reason to be optimistic about their possibilities in 2024.
Twelve short months later, their efforts are in shambles, and Texans opposed to gambling are getting informed and organized ahead of the 2025 legislative session.
To start the year, Sands, a major player in the gambling industry, signaled it would continue its aggressive campaign to bring casinos to Texas, building on momentum from the previous legislative session.
The company spearheaded pro-gambling lobbying efforts, which saw a measure advance to the floor of the Texas House before failing. As the primary approached, the group needed to protect members who sided with pro-gambling interests on that vote and keep the current House leadership empowered.
Spoiler alert: it failed on both counts.
The company once again made substantial campaign contributions to key Texas politicians. Sands PAC distributed $1.8 million to members of the Texas House. Republicans received $1.34 million, and Democrats received $457,500.
House Speaker Phelan was given $200,000 by Sands PAC, making him the largest beneficiary of casino money in that pre-primary period. But the money didn’t matter in the end. Phelan was forced into a runoff, and several of his pro-casino allies were fired by primary voters.
One notable defeat was that of State Rep. John Kuempel (R-Seguin), an essential figure in the House’s efforts to expand gambling. His father, a now-deceased former representative, teamed up with Democrats to expand gambling.
Sands PAC was joined in its run-off election efforts by the Texas Defense PAC—an entity funded entirely by Miriam Adelson, owner of Sands, who spent over $9 million to support embattled House incumbents and allies of Phelan.
The Texas runoff elections were just as bad for Sands, even though Phelan managed to escape being fired by a few hundred votes. In the end, 14 Republican members who had previously voted for Sands-backed legislation either lost their elections or retired.
Following the primary elections, Patrick Dumont, president of Las Vegas Sands and co-owner of the Dallas Mavericks, offered bearish projections for his family’s casino dreams in Texas—but the year wasn’t over.
To try and steady his speakership, Phelan appointed Mike Toomey, a taxpayer-funded casino lobbyist, as his new chief of staff. This appointment signaled both weakness and the possibility of gambling legislation becoming a point of focus in the upcoming 2025 session.
Shortly after the November election, Greg Abbott announced a troika of measures to counteract China’s influence in Texas. Around the same time, Sands announced a $15 million donation to UNLV to establish a Chinese Appreciation Institute.
Most people are under the impression that Sands is a U.S. company, but that’s incorrect. While it has a corporate headquarters in Las Vegas, it is entirely divested of U.S.-based casino interests.
The company is a Chinese casino operator looking to invade Texas.
Spreading the “good news” about China to students at UNLV is common behavior for companies that work with the Chinese Communist Party.
One tool Sands had likely hoped to salvage—a Dade Phelan speakership—was lost in early December when Phelan withdrew from the speaker’s race ahead of the GOP caucus vote. That’s a lousy way to end the year if you’re Sands.
The events of 2024 demonstrated that despite massive financial investments, the path to expanding gambling in Texas remains fraught. Sands is learning the same lesson as past gambling-expansion dreamers: there’s no such thing as an inevitability in Texas politics.
