Adelson's Las Vegas Sands has built a stable of high-powered lobbyists for the session, which starts in January, and the company acknowledged Tuesday that it is serious about bringing casinos to Texas.
The casino empire helmed by GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson is zeroing in on Texas.
Las Vegas Sands, among the world’s largest gaming companies, has set its sights on legalizing casinos in the state with a stable of high-powered lobbyists for the upcoming legislative session — and on Tuesday, a public acknowledgment of its ambitions.
Andy Abboud, Las Vegas Sands’ top lobbyist, said the company was pursuing Texas as one of only a few expansion opportunities, along with places like Japan, Brazil and New York.
“We view Texas as a worldwide destination and one of the top potential markets in the entire world,” Abboud said during a conference hosted by the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association. “Texas is considered the biggest plum still waiting to be out there in the history of hospitality and gaming.”
For over a half hour Tuesday, Abboud made a robust pitch for legalizing casino gambling in Texas, putting a clarifying exclamation point on recent speculation that Las Vegas Sands was targeting the state. He proposed a “limited number of destination resorts in Texas,” in or near big cities, that would not aim to replicate Las Vegas but would “blend into existing infrastructure.” He said a “strict regulatory environment” would be an “absolute requirement.” And he urged lawmakers to require bidders to make a “minimum investment of 1 or 2 or 3 billion dollars so that you absolutely only get the best companies bidding and they are forced by law to build an incredible facility.”
Las Vegas Sands’ interest in Texas is coming to light after a November election in which Adelson and his wife, Miriam Adelson, ranked among the top donors to Republicans’ successful battle to preserve their majority in the state House. The couple donated $4.5 million in September to a Texas account affiliated with the Republican State Leadership Committee, the top national GOP group involved in state legislative races.
Previous efforts to legalize casino gambling in Texas have not taken off, though the appetite could be different this session, when lawmakers are faced with a $4.6 billion budget shortfall. That has generated speculation about new revenue sources, including “sin taxes” such as legalizing casino gambling and marijuana.
“They are job creators, they hire a lot of additional employees, they have tremendous purchasing power,” Abboud said of casinos. “But they are also tremendous generators of tax revenue.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/12/09/sheldon-adelson-texas-casinos/