Blotter: Aria Casino recommended for gaming license

The Aria Resort and Casino, the centerpiece of the MGM Mirage’s ambitious US$8.5 billion CityCenter project, has received the support of the Nevada Gaming Control Board for its application for a state gaming license. With this vital step soon to be completed, company officials expect to open their newest gaming destination on the Las Vegas strip before the end of the year.

After lengthy questioning sessions by board members directed at both MGM Mirage executives and their investment partners, Dubai World, about operations methods, financial particulars and background information, the panel recommended that the group’s application for a gaming license be put forward for a vote before the full board this month. Dubai World, a full partner with MGM Mirage in the project, is the financial branch of the small oil-rich state of Dubai in the Persian Gulf.

NGC Board Chairman Dennis Neilander stated his hopes that the board’s support of Aria’s gaming license application would be the kind of jump-start that the struggling Las Vegas economy needs to "get on the smooth recovery track." Fellow board member Mark Lipparelli said that he and his colleagues feel that the CityCenter project as a whole could draw as much as eighty percent of its revenue from non-gaming sources.

The CityCenter structure will cover up to sixty-seven acres (27.1 hectares) near the site of the famous Bellagio casino, also owned by the MGM Mirage group, which will include three luxury hotels, a spacious shopping center and condominiums for permanent residents of the property in addition to the casino. Jim Murren, CEO of MGM Mirage, said that since “Las Vegas has evolved” so much in the last few years, that the other components of the property would contribute so much more to the company’s bottom line.

According to reports, the partners financed the huge undertaking with US$6.1 billion in investment money, US$1.8 billion in credit instruments, and US$1.1 billion in condominium contracts. Out of the 2,440 residential units available for sale, less than a thousand were still available. CityCenter is due to open next month and investors expected to recoup their startup costs by early 2010.

19-Nov-2009, 06:00

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