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    Bought as an N.B.A. Team, the Mavericks Are Being Sold as Much More

    Pro sports franchises are increasingly providing much of their value as anchors for larger business enterprises, including entertainment complexes.The sales of most professional sports teams are fairly predictable.They happen because owners die or cannot figure out how to pass the team on to their families. They run out of money, are more focused on other pursuits or are pushed out because of misconduct.Once the decision to sell is made, the process plays out in a relatively public way. Bankers are hired, potential purchasers register interest, an auction occurs, and weeks or months of reports in the news media follow.So it was a complete surprise last month when, with no warning, the families that control the Las Vegas Sands casino empire announced that they had reached a binding agreement to buy a controlling interest in the National Basketball Association’s Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban. The only thing that made sense was that the situation involved Mr. Cuban, who has long run the Mavericks in an unconventional manner.Still, more than two weeks later, the basic question surrounding the sale — Why did Mr. Cuban do it? — remains mostly unanswered. The reliably loquacious Mr. Cuban, who always seemed to be having more fun than any other owner, declined to speak on the record for this article. The Adelson and Dumont families, wary of getting ahead of an N.B.A. approval process that includes due diligence and a vote on the sale by other team owners, declined to comment beyond a statement expressing their excitement.But what is clear is that the sale represents a window into the rapidly changing nature of the business of sports.When Mr. Cuban bought the Mavericks in 2000, flush with cash from selling Broadcast.com just before the dot-come bubble popped, professional sports teams were still mainly just teams.Now they are anchors for larger business enterprises. Anchor tenants for arenas that are the beating heart of vast entertainment complexes, as in Sacramento. Anchor content for regional sports networks or other media conglomerates, as in Washington, D.C. Anchor brands for millions of fans newly allowed to bet on sports, as in Phoenix.Mr. Cuban is also many things — a dot-com billionaire, an owner of a company trying to reduce the price of prescription drugs and, for one more season, one of the main investors in the reality show “Shark Tank” — but what he is not is a real estate mogul, providing a possible motivation for the sale.The Dallas Mavericks partly own the American Airlines Center, where they play their games in the Victory Park development just north of downtown. But while the owners of their co-tenant, the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars, have invested in land near the arena, Mr. Cuban has mostly expressed annoyance that it takes away from fan parking. Now he is changing his tune.“Cuban probably wants to imitate what has worked, have the ownership control he doesn’t have in Victory Park, and push it to a new level with casino and resort integration,” said Robert Sroka, a professor of sport administration at Georgia State University and a sport venue development consultant.Mr. Cuban has publicly said he wants to build a resort destination in Dallas with Sands.Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesLast year Mr. Cuban told The Dallas Morning News of his intention to team up with Sands on just that, a new arena and casino complex.“Partnering with the Sands Corporation, literally there’s no reason we can’t build a huge resort destination in the city proper of Dallas,” he said.A piece of a destination like that would mean a lot more money for Mr. Cuban than the sums generated by game tickets and arena concessions. The plan, however, faces a significant hurdle — besides acquiring land, obtaining financing when interest rates are high and receiving construction approvals. Almost all forms of gambling are illegal in Texas, and there is no clear sign of that changing.A bill that would legalize sports betting passed the Texas House this year, but Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor, refused to bring it up for discussion in the Senate. Even if such a bill passed the Senate, Texas residents would still need to vote on it.A bill allowing casinos faced even fiercer opposition, particularly from influential conservative religious leaders, and never made it out of the House. And while sports betting, if it is legalized in Texas, can be lucrative for teams, it is really a casino bill that needs to pass if Mr. Cuban’s vision of a sports and gambling destination is to be realized. The Sands, which has a number of casinos in Macau and Singapore but currently none in the United States, has hired dozens of lobbyists to get one passed in recent years.Mr. Cuban owns about three-quarters of the Mavericks, with the rest held by a handful of minority owners. After the sale he will own about a quarter, and the Adelson and Dumont families nearly three-quarters, with the rest spread among some minority owners, according to two people familiar with the terms, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose them publicly.Some people believe the reported $3.5 billion valuation that Mr. Cuban is selling at is less than he could have received if the Mavericks had gone on the open market. Just last week, for instance, a small share of the Indiana Pacers was bought at a reported valuation of $3.47 billion. Indianapolis is a much smaller market than Dallas, and minority stakes are typically discounted. So, the thinking goes, the sale of a majority stake in the Mavericks should’ve been for much higher.But the sale to the Adelson and Dumont families includes an unusual stipulation: Mr. Cuban will continue to run the basketball operations of the team.Officially, Patrick Dumont, the son-in-law of Miriam Adelson and the late Sheldon Adelson, will be what the N.B.A. calls the team’s governor and vote on leaguewide matters. But Mr. Cuban will run its basketball operations. The bet, then, seems to be this: Mr. Cuban will earn billions from a team he paid $285 million for two decades ago; he will continue to participate in the part of team ownership he likes the most; and if the Adelsons and Las Vegas Sands can muscle through a new arena and casino complex, one day his quarter of the team might be worth as much as the three-quarters he used to own.This could also help make up for money Mr. Cuban expects to lose on the team’s local media rights agreement. The holder of those rights, Diamond Sports Groups, is going through bankruptcy.“I think a new arena, real estate area and hopefully a future resort casino can replace what we lose in media, and fund current and future Mavs,” Mr. Cuban said in an email to a local television station last month.Over a thousand miles west of Dallas, the sale has thrown the race to own an N.B.A. franchise in Las Vegas wide open, since the Adelson family was widely presumed to be a front-runner if the city got a team.Officially, there is no guarantee there will ever be an N.B.A. team in Las Vegas, but the league is widely expected to soon expand to 32 teams from 30. This summer, Adam Silver, its commissioner, said the league would turn to the issue of expansion after it completed new media agreements, sometime in 2024. He said it was not certain the league would expand, but named Las Vegas and Seattle as cities that would be considered.“A lot is happening behind the scenes,” said Steve Sisolak, a former governor of Nevada. “A lot of groups that have interest. It remains to be seen who is a front-runner.”Currently, the only arena in Las Vegas that has close to the required facilities for an N.B.A. team is the T-Mobile Center, which is co-owned by the arena developer AEG and MGM Resorts International, with Bill Foley, the owner of the N.H.L.’s Las Vegas Golden Knights, holding a minority share.But Oak View Group, another arena developer and operator, has announced plans for a $10 billion resort south of the Strip that would include an arena an N.B.A. team could play in. Intriguingly, the land that arena would be built on is owned by Scott Goldstein, the son of Rob Goldstein, the chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands. Sands is not currently involved in that project.Susan Beachy More

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    Team’s Sale Reflects Growing Links Between Pro Sports and Gambling

    The proposed purchase of the N.B.A.’s Dallas Mavericks by a casino operator is the latest sign of how fully leagues have embraced the gaming world.For years, professional sports organizations like the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball prohibited liquor companies from buying advertising in locations in stadiums and arenas that could be seen on television, in deference to efforts to curb drunken driving.But in 2009, during the depths of the worst recession since the Great Depression, those same leagues found themselves scrambling for cash as their biggest sponsors — automakers, banks and others — cut back on marketing. Suddenly, they began signing multimillion-dollar deals with companies that made rum, tequila, vodka and other hard liquor, and the advertising was displayed for all to see.It was a sign of how justifications can change seemingly overnight, especially when money is involved. The sports world was reminded of that last week when Miriam Adelson and her trust sold $2 billion worth of shares in the Sands Corporation, a casino operator, to buy a professional sports team, which turned out to be the Dallas Mavericks. (The purchase still needs to be approved by the league’s board of governors before becoming official.)“The Adelson and Dumont families are honored to have the opportunity to be stewards of this great franchise,” they said in a statement.For decades, most major professional leagues largely kept the gaming world at arm’s length. They barred players, referees and owners from gambling on sports, to insulate game results from any hint of impropriety, a stance that dated back at least a century to the famed Black Sox scandal of 1919.Some leagues likewise forbid owners from holding stakes in casinos. In one instance, Dan Rooney, the principal owner of the National Football League’s Pittsburgh Steelers, had to buy out his brothers’ stake in the team because the brothers owned racetracks in New York and Florida. The N.B.A. had no such rule and has had owners with ties to casinos, including Tilman Fertitta, the current owner of the Houston Rockets.The N.F.L. commissioner, Roger Goodell, long opposed the broad legalization of sports gambling.Adam Hunger/Associated Press“If gambling is permitted freely on sporting events, normal incidents of the game such as bad snaps, dropped passes, turnovers, penalties and play calling inevitably will fuel speculation, distrust and accusations of point-shaving or game fixing,” the N.F.L. commissioner, Roger Goodell, said in 2012.Yet at a time when sports gambling — once done only in casino meccas like Las Vegas or through bookies — has been legalized in dozens of states, the leagues’ former approach seems quaint. While restrictions remain on players, referees and owners wagering on their own sports, gambling has otherwise been embraced by the mainstream sports establishment.They have removed restrictions on casinos and sports books advertising in stadiums and on television. Some stadiums, like FedEx Field in Landover, Md., the home of the N.F.L.’s Washington Commanders, have sports books inside. Sports wagering companies now plaster their names on sign boards in stadiums and buy TV commercials during games, including the Super Bowl, with all manner of promotions to woo new customers.The leagues have also done an about-face on operating in the home of sports wagering, Las Vegas, which was for years off limits. Now the National Hockey League, the Women’s National Basketball Association and the N.F.L. have teams in the city. Last month, Major League Baseball’s owners unanimously approved allowing the A’s to leave Oakland and head to Las Vegas. The N.B.A., which has held All-Star games, summer leagues and a new in-season tournament in Las Vegas, could add an expansion team in the city in the coming years, which would give every major pro sport a team in a locale the leagues once shunned.“The leagues are constantly re-evaluating their business as laws change, social mores change and different companies and categories become bigger,” said Marc Ganis, a consultant to numerous teams and leagues. “That includes look at ownership rules, sponsorships and advertising.”The N.F.L.’s embrace of Las Vegas has perhaps been most surprising, given the league’s conservative reputation. The Raiders won approval to move to the city in 2017. The league has held the Pro Bowl and college draft on The Strip. And in February, the league’s marquee event — the Super Bowl — will be played in Las Vegas, removing perhaps the last vestige of any distance between it and the city.The Super Bowl in February will be held at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.Kirby Lee/Usa Today Sports Via Reuters ConThe leagues’ reassessment has been both practical and strategic. The biggest break came in 2018 after the Supreme Court ruled that a law that prohibited sports gambling in most of the country was unconstitutional. Dozens of states quickly approved legalizing sports wagering, dwarfing the amount spent in Las Vegas. The N.F.L. now allows owners to hold stakes in casinos that have no sports betting, though it restricts owners from having more than a 5 percent stake in casinos that allow sports betting.“Las Vegas is acceptable not so much because of us but because gambling is almost everywhere now,” said Michael Green, a historian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “The Strip is as legit as any large business.”At the same time, Las Vegas’s image as a desert oasis with casinos and nightclubs under the thumb of the mob changed dramatically in the 1990s, when The Strip was turned into an urban theme park where parents could bring their children. Many visitors come now as much to see shows like U2 at the Sphere or the latest extravaganza by Cirque du Soleil as they do to visit the casinos.And while Las Vegas is relatively small, with a population of about 2.5 million in the region, it has been able to support teams like the Raiders and the Golden Knights of the N.H.L. because the city is a year-round destination, drawing roughly 40 million tourists annually.“There’s a whole new demographic being exposed to sports gambling by visiting Las Vegas,” said Jay Kornegay, the vice president of the Race and Sports Book Operations at Westgate Resorts.Mr. Green noted that the Smith Center for the Performing Arts and the Mob Museum, which both opened in 2012, also gave the city a glean of sophistication it had lacked. He recalled how just 20 years ago, the N.F.L. blocked Las Vegas from buying ads during the Super Bowl, a decision that now seems antiquated.“Remind me,” he said, “where’s the next Super Bowl?”Kevin Draper More

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    Man City legend Sergio Aguero in career change which could make him even richer

    FOOTBALL star Sergio Aguero has another big goal in his sights — winning a £8million poker tournament in Las Vegas.The former Man City striker, 35, is among more than 3,000 playing in the two-week World Series of Poker Main Event.
    Sergio Aguero is planning to win the £8million World Series of Poker Main EventCredit: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuPgslkMWct/
    Novice Aguero has won less than £5,000 in his fledgling poker career.
    But the Argentine bagged a respectable 85,000 chips after day one, with Briton Christopher Brammer leading with 386,100.
    Insiders said there was hope for Aguero, famed for his dramatic stoppage-time goal for City to win the Prem in 2012.
    A source said: “Even the best players make mistakes or get bad cards.
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    “Sergio has got to stay in for as long as he can — then who knows.”
    Aguero helped City win five Premier League titles, an FA Cup, and six League Cups.
    After leaving City in 2021, Aguero joined Barcelona.
    He played only four games for the Spanish giants scoring just one goal before being diagnosed with a heart condition and announcing his retirement.
    Most read in Football More

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    Premier League shirts set to look very different next season after proposed Government ban

    PREMIER LEAGUE shirts are set to look very different from next season as the government considers action on gambling sponsorship. Fans have become used to seeing betting firm logos splashed across the front of club jerseys.
    Eight Premier League clubs have betting logos on the front of their shirtCredit: Getty
    The top-flight could look very different next season if new rules are bought inCredit: Getty
    But this could be coming to an end as politicians mull changes over gambling laws.
    New draft legislation is set to be published over the coming weeks.
    And while the government is not expected to ban gambling sponsors, the BBC reports that the Premier League could take action into their own hands.
    It is believed the division is set to agree to voluntarily remove better sponsors from the front of shirts.
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    However top-flights clubs are said to have not yet voted on the measure.
    Betting companies are still expected to be allowed to advertise on other parts of the kit and in their stadium.
    The changes could have a knock-on effect for a number of clubs with eight top-flight teams sporting betting logos on the front of their shirts this season.
    Bournemouth, Brentford, Everton, Fulham, Leeds, Newcastle, Southampton and West Ham will all have a different front-of-shirt sponsor if the new ruling is passed.
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    The EFL, which is sponsored by Sky Bet, is not expected to implement anything similar with the league previously claiming that any outright gambling ban would cost its 72 members £40m-a-year.

    The government have looked closer at the relationship between betting and football after campaigners argued that tighter regulation was needed to protect vulnerable groups.
    But the Betting and Gambling Council, which represents the industry, has previously said the “overwhelming majority” of people in the UK who bet do so safely and responsibly. More

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    I lost my phone in a pub and when I got it back I saw a mystery punter had puts bets on with it – and won me a huge sum

    A DRINKER who got back his lost phone saw a mystery punter had put bets on with it — and won him more than £650.Christopher Dennis, 52, now wants to give them a £300 reward.
    A mystery punter won Christopher Dennis more than £650 after placing a string of winning wagers on his lost phone
    The property agent was out with pals when he lost his mobile on January 16.
    The unlocked device was then handed in three days later — and he saw someone placed 14 football wagers on his Betfair account.
    Incredibly, they won him just over £650, with the punter cashing out before some ended to seal the wins.
    Christopher, of Cambridgeshire, said: “I’m really curious to find out who put these bets on.
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    “They are obviously a betting genius and I’d like some tips! I definitely owe them a few drinks, but I’d like to offer them £300 as a thank you.
    “The most I’d won before was £80 on Argentina winning the World Cup.”
    Christopher, who had been drinking at the Champion Of The Thames pub in Cambridge, went on: “I like to imagine that when they kept on winning they realised they couldn’t take the money out as it would just go to my bank account, so they handed the phone in.”
    He added: “I’ve learned my lesson though — I really need to set the lock on my phone, otherwise this could have ended up very differently.”
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    Punters visiting black market online gambling sites tripled during the World Cup

    THE number of punters visiting black market online gambling sites tripled during the World Cup, research shows.A total of 250,000 used unregulated overseas firms during the tournament — up from 80,000 in the same period in 2021.
    The number of visitors to black market gambling sites tripled during the World CupCredit: Getty
    The betting industry says it takes under 30 seconds to sign up to a black market site compared to 12 minutes for a regulated UK operator.
    It comes as ministers prepare to publish a gambling white paper.
    Michael Dugher, CEO at the Betting and Gaming Council, said punters face a “dire threat” from “the growing unsafe, unregulated black market”.
    He said the regulated industry worked hard to protect young people during the World Cup by adhering to strict regulations while black market operators “preyed on the vulnerable”.
    READ MORE ON GAMBLING
    He added: “While the regulated industry was going to great lengths to protect young people during the World Cup and adhering to strict regulations and promoting safer gambling, black market operators were preying on the vulnerable.
    “These unlicensed sites offer none of the safer gambling tools promoted by our members, they pay no tax and employ no one, they do not contribute a penny to sport or services tackling gambling harm.
    “Rather than dismissing the problem, the regulator and the Government need to tread extremely carefully and resist blanket intrusive affordability checks at low levels that push even more punters to these dangerous sites.”
    He praised the research by Yield Sec, a US-based licensed gaming marketplace.
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    Three Lions ace Ivan Toney hands mobile to FA investigators looking into match-betting claims

    THREE Lions striker Ivan Toney has handed his phone to FA investigators looking into match-betting claims, The Sun can reveal.The £50million star was also understood to have allowed officials into his apartment to look at personal records.
    He has been questioned over claims that wagers were placed on games, in strict breach of FA rules on gamblingCredit: Shutterstock
    Despite being caught up in the seven-month investigation, Brentford ace Toney was surprisingly still picked by Gareth SouthgateCredit: Getty
    After handing over his mobile to the investigators, a string of the 26-year-old’s contacts on the handset have been approached.
    It raises the prospect that other top-flight footballers have been questioned over claims that wagers were placed on games — in breach of strict FA rules on gambling.
    Brentford ace Toney, 26, was surprisingly still picked by Gareth Southgate despite being caught up in the seven-month investigation.
    He is widely expected to be named in his England squad for the World Cup in Qatar on Thursday.
    READ MORE WORLD CUP 2022
    But football’s integrity will be questioned if he is picked and later charged.
    Sources say the ace has become “incredibly worried” the investigation could cost him his place.
    One said: “Ivan isn’t stupid, he knows it doesn’t look good — even though he insists he has done nothing wrong.
    “The best thing for everyone would be if the FA could clear him in time — so his place in Gareth Southgate’s squad comes down to his football.
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    “He has done everything that is asked of him — he has handed over his phone and records and even spoken to investigators at his apartment.
    “Some of his closest friends have already been contacted — so it is clear the FA are taking this seriously.
    “Ivan just doesn’t want anything to get in the way of his dream of playing for his country at a World Cup.”
    There is no suggestion of any criminal activity by Toney or that he attempted to fix the outcome of any match.
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    No charges have been brought by FA chiefs against the player.
    Toney’s agent and the FA were approached for comment. More

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    Paul Merson slipped back into gambling because he thought he would lose job on Sky Sports

    Former England star Paul Merson says he slipped back into gambling when he thought Covid rules had ended his TV pundit career. The ex-Arsenal player, 53, said he was convinced he would lose his Sky Sports job when football matches were banned early in the pandemic.
    Paul Merson is a pundit for Sky Sports and has been open about his gambling addiction strugglesCredit: Rex
    The dad of eight said: “I got hooked on the news in lockdown.
    “My brain was telling me, ‘I’m not going to work again. There’s not going to be another Soccer Saturday’.
    “The addict in me was, ‘What am I going to do for a job?’. I got scared.”
    In October, the Sun told how wife Kate gives him only a cash allowance after he gambled away their house deposit in his lockdown relapse.
    He says he has not placed a bet since.
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    Jeff Stelling forced to apologise after Paul Merson crunches Sweet Chilli crisps in background on Soccer Saturday More