NEW YORK (AFP) — The National Basketball Association approved Mark Cuban's sale of his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to the families that run the Las Vegas Sands casino resort company.

The league said in a statement on Wednesday that the board of governors had "approved the sale of the controlling interest in the Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban to the families of Dr. Miriam Adelson and Sivan and Patrick Dumont."

Patrick Dumont, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands corporation, will serve as the Mavericks' governor, the league said, adding that the sale was expected to close this week.

The approval comes almost a month after the deal was announced.

Cuban is expected to maintain control of basketball operations, and there's no indication the club will leave Dallas.

A passionate basketball fan, Cuban is often courtside at Mavericks games and purchased a majority interest in the team in January of 2000 for $285 million.

In October, Forbes magazine valued the Mavs seventh of 30 NBA clubs at $4.5 billion.

Adelson, the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, is top shareholder in the Sands corporation, which operates major casinos in Singapore and Macau.

Cuban said he wants to see a new arena built for the Mavericks as part of a casino, providing the state of Texas legalizes gambling.