Las Vegas Sands Corp. officially removed the portion of a controversial Irving rezoning plan that could have paved the way for a casino at a city council meeting Thursday night packed to capacity with residents critical of the resort company’s plans.
The about-face comes days after a seven-hour planning and zoning commission meeting, during which people lined up to speak in opposition to the plan before it was sent to the full city council for approval.
On Thursday night, city staff directed the public to an overflow auditorium after the main council chamber filled up. Upon entering, one table was dedicated solely to signing up to speak on the proposal.
At one point, a staffer told the public they could not leave the building and reenter, due to being at “fire marshal capacity.”
When Assistant City Manager Philip Sanders announced the Las Vegas Sands officially scratched the casino-related portion of the plan, cheers and applause rang out from the standing-room only crowd.
The change is a win for a vocal contingent who showed up in droves during recent public meetings. An online petition against a casino garnered more than 5,000 signatures.
The city council wasn’t the only hurdle facing Las Vegas Sands — even if passed, Texas would have to legalize gambling for a casino to operate, something the resort company has lobbied hard for in recent years.
But residents nonetheless expressed worry about the prospect of gambling in the city, with many scratching their heads as to why the company would push its proposal without certainty as to whether gambling would come to the state.
The two proposed Irving amendments would create a development on 1,001 acres, including the site of the former Texas Stadium, around State Highway 183, Loop 12, and Spur 482. There are about 452 acres of buildable land on the site.
The “high-density, mixed-use development” would be a mix of corporate, retail, residential buildings, and a “destination resort.” The resort would have a 1,750-room hotel, restaurants, pools, retail stores, and a 15,000-seat arena or a 4,000-seat theater.
But it was another portion of the plan — which would include room for casino gaming — that received the strongest pushback in recent weeks from people concerned about crime, the development’s quick timeline, and its connection to the Sands.
Las Vegas Sands first entered into an agreement to buy the land in 2022, and the purchase was finalized in 2023, months before primary Las Vegas Sands shareholder Miriam Adelson acquired a controlling stake in the Dallas Mavericks.
Patrick Dumont, governor of the Dallas Mavericks, was also recently named the next chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands.
The Sands’ attachment to the project raised additional concerns about whether Mavericks ownership would move the team from the American Airlines Center in Dallas to the new Irving location — something a Sands representative neither confirmed nor denied at Tuesday’s planning and zoning commission hearing.
Megan Cardona and Paul DeBenedetto contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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