It’s Official: MGM Pushed Back in Atlantic City

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Another gaming giant has put the brakes on an Atlantic City casino project. Like Pinnacle Entertainment, which postponed plans for a .5 billion Boardwalk resort earlier this year, and the Atlantic City Hilton, which just tabled major expansion plans, MGM Mirage will delay construction on a mammoth billion casino and hotel development in the Marina District.

Groundbreaking has been pushed back to 2009 or later, but MGM hopes to stick with the original opening date sometime in 2012.

“We’re still enthusiastic and confident about the Atlantic City market,” company spokesman Gordon Absher said last month. “The project has not changed or been downscaled.”

MGM announced the East Coast project last October, before the credit markets foundered. When complete, the complex will feature Atlantic City’s largest casino and tallest building, plus three hotel towers, a luxury spa, a convention center and 500,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and entertainment. At 280,000 square feet, its casino floor will dwarf others in Atlantic City.

The location is a 72-acre site next to Borgata Hotel Casino
& Spa, which MGM co-owns with Boyd Gaming Corp. About 60 acres will be earmarked for the casino, with the rest set aside for future development.

Though MGM pulled the plug on construction, it will go ahead with the planning and regulatory approvals. A sticking point for New Jersey commissioners could be the company’s partnership in Macau with Pansy Ho, the daughter of Asian gaming icon Stanley Ho, who has reputed ties to Asian organized crime.

The Casino Control Commission did approve Dubai World’s request to increase its stake in MGM Mirage to 20 percent. Dubai World is the second-biggest shareholder and currently owns 9.4 percent of MGM Mirage, while Los Angeles billionaire Kirk Kerkorian holds the majority stake of almost 54 percent. It will also take a 50 percent stake in CityCenter, MGM’s $9 billion project in Las Vegas.