MGM Resorts International

• 1. Introduction

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  MGM Resorts International began its life not as a hotel company, but as a naming rights shell. In 1986, after selling off his two Nevada casino-hotels to Bally Manufacturing, Kirk Kerkorian retained one thing of value: the right to use the MGM Grand name. That single asset became the seed of what would grow into the largest casino company in the world by revenue. How did a brand licensing deal in a California suburb lead to a sprawling empire spanning Macau, Osaka, and the Las Vegas Strip? And what price did the company pay along the way in financial crises, cyberattacks, and a lawsuit against shooting survivors? The answers begin in a Beverly Hills boardroom and stretch across half a century.

• 2. Kirk Kerkorian's Gamble

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  Kirk Kerkorian's involvement in gambling was, initially, an accident of debt. In 1970 and 1971, struggling under borrowing from his acquisitions of MGM and Western Airlines, he was forced to sell the majority of his casino company, International Leisure, to Hilton Hotels at a steep discount. The casino he had built became the Las Vegas Hilton, and it turned into the most successful hotel in Las Vegas. Watching that success from the outside inspired Kerkorian to steer his movie studio toward gambling. The original MGM Grand Hotel and Casino opened in 1973, on a site now occupied by Horseshoe Las Vegas, followed by the MGM Grand Reno in 1978. By 1979, those two properties were generating most of MGM's income. Kerkorian split the company, spinning off the film studio while keeping the hotels under a renamed entity. His 47 percent stake in both companies gave him influence on both sides. When he sold the casinos to Bally in April 1986, the deal closed with one crucial carve-out: Kerkorian walked away with the MGM Grand name intact, and he used it to form Grand Name Co. later that year.

• 3. From Air to Earth

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  The first venture under the new MGM Grand, Inc. name had nothing to do with casinos. MGM Grand Air launched in September 1987 as a luxury airline offering service between New York and Los Angeles. The company also made an unsolicited approach for financially troubled Pan American World Airways, but Pan Am's board rejected that offer in November 1987. On the casino front, MGM bid $152 million for the bankrupt Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas in August 1987, only to be outbid by Japanese billionaire Masao Nangaku. The company then turned south, acquiring the Desert Inn and Sands casinos from Summa Corporation in February 1988 for $167 million. The Sands was sold on to Sheldon Adelson's Interface Group for $110 million in April 1989. The Desert Inn would eventually serve a different purpose: it was the site briefly considered for a massive Hollywood-themed resort before the company settled on the Marina Hotel and the Tropicana Country Club, acquired for $93 million plus $30 million in stock. Construction on the MGM Grand Las Vegas and its accompanying Adventures theme park began in October 1991. When the property opened in December 1993, the final bill was $1 billion.

• 4. Strip Ambitions

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  Gary Primm of Primadonna Resorts approached MGM president Bob Maxey in 1994 with a proposal: build a casino recreating the New York skyline on an 18-acre site across the street from the new MGM Grand. The joint venture that followed produced the New York-New York Hotel and Casino, completed at $460 million and opened in January 1997. That same period saw MGM exploring markets across three continents. An exploratory agreement to develop two casinos on the Chinese island of Hainan came to nothing. In Australia's Darwin, a destination attracting Pacific Rim high rollers, the company bought the Diamond Beach Hotel and Casino and renamed it MGM Grand Darwin. In South Africa, newly opened to casino gambling, MGM announced plans in August 1996 to develop 15 properties alongside Tsogo Sun. The first, a temporary casino at Johannesburg's Sundome, opened in October 1998. MGM would eventually sell its South African interest to Tsogo Sun in November 2001. The cleaner deal came with Primadonna itself: rather than buying out the joint venture, MGM agreed to buy the entire Primadonna company for $276 million in stock plus $336 million in assumed debt. The merger closed in March 1999, adding three casinos and two golf courses at the Nevada-California state line.

• 5. The Mirage and the Merger

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  In February 2000, MGM Grand made an unsolicited offer of $17 a share to acquire Mirage Resorts, whose flagship Bellagio and Beau Rivage properties had underperformed expectations. Analysts expected a long fight, because Mirage founder Steve Wynn was seen as unlikely to surrender control. Wynn met with Kerkorian the day after rejecting the initial bid and named a higher price: $21 a share. The two sides agreed, putting the total deal at $4.4 billion plus $2 billion in assumed debt. When the merger closed in May 2000, MGM gained ownership of the Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio, Boardwalk, and Golden Nugget casinos in Las Vegas, the Beau Rivage in Mississippi, the Golden Nugget in Laughlin, and a half share in the Monte Carlo. The company renamed itself MGM Mirage in August 2000. Just over three years later, the Borgata, a planned Atlantic City casino that Mirage had co-owned in a joint venture managed by Boyd Gaming, opened in July 2003. The Mandalay merger followed in April 2005 for $7.9 billion including $3 billion in assumed debt, briefly making MGM Mirage the largest gambling company in the world, though Harrah's Entertainment's acquisition of Caesars surpassed it just two months later.

• 6. CityCenter and the Crisis

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  In 2004, MGM announced Project CityCenter: an $8-billion high-density complex on the 55-acre Boardwalk site on the Las Vegas Strip, incorporating hotels, condominiums, a casino, and a shopping mall. The Boardwalk closed in January 2006, and construction began the following June. At the time of its construction, CityCenter was the world's largest construction site and ranks among the most expensive real estate projects in history. The timing proved disastrous. Construction coincided with the 2008 financial crisis, which caused more than $1 billion in write-offs against the project's valuation. Dubai World, which had agreed in August 2007 to pay about $2.7 billion for a 50 percent stake in CityCenter, filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court in March 2009 seeking release from the joint venture after MGM's annual report stated there was substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern. MGM sold Treasure Island to billionaire Phil Ruffin in a deal that closed on the 20th of March 2009 for $600 million in cash plus a $175 million promissory note. Tracinda Corporation's shareholding, which had stood at 53.8 percent, was diluted to 39 percent following a $1 billion stock offering during the credit crunch. Kerkorian's Tracinda had been the majority shareholder until 2009. On the 15th of June 2010, shareholders voted to rename the company MGM Resorts International, a change meant to emphasize global scope and a shift away from pure gambling revenue.

• 7. Lawsuits, Cyberattacks, Fines

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  On the 18th of July 2018, MGM Resorts filed suit against survivors and relatives of victims killed in the 1st of October 2017 Las Vegas shooting. The company argued that its use of a Department of Homeland Security-certified security vendor, Contemporary Services Corporation, entitled it to federal court protection under the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act. Attorney Brian Claypool, representing some survivors, called the maneuver a public relations nightmare. The backlash was severe enough that lawmakers and media figures in New York State urged gaming regulators to block MGM's $850 million purchase of Empire City Casino and Yonkers Raceway. In October 2019, MGM agreed to pay victims and survivors up to $800 million. A separate data breach in 2019 affected 10.6 million previous customers, with approximately 1,300 individuals having identification numbers exposed. In September 2023, the hacking group Scattered Spider disrupted MGM's hotel and casino operations for several days. MGM refused to pay a ransom and stated that $100 million in losses would be covered by cyber insurance. Both the 2019 and 2023 class action lawsuits were settled together for $45 million on the 18th of June 2025. Then on the 24th of April 2025, the Nevada Gaming Control Board voted unanimously to levy an $8.5 million fine on MGM for allowing two illegal bookmakers to gamble at MGM Grand and The Cosmopolitan. The investigation implicated former MGM Grand president Scott Sibella, whose gambling license was revoked by the Nevada Gaming Commission on the 19th of December 2024.

• 8. BetMGM and Beyond

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  After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal sports betting ban in May 2018, MGM announced a 50/50 joint venture with UK gambling operator GVC Holdings to build a sports betting platform for American markets. Named Roar Digital in January 2019, the venture launched as BetMGM and quickly signed official partnerships with the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball in late 2018. A partnership with the Denver Broncos of the NFL followed in July 2020. By November 2021, BetMGM was among nine operators awarded sports betting licenses by the New York State Gaming Commission. That same month, the company agreed to a multi-year marketing deal with Madison Square Garden Sports, making it a gambling sponsor for both the New York Knicks and New York Rangers. In September 2022, BetMGM paid $3 million over three years for naming rights to the NJ Transit rail line serving MetLife Stadium. In July 2024, the company became a training kit sponsor for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur for the 2024-25 season. Back on the physical property side, MGM broke ground on MGM Osaka in April 2025, which will be the first integrated resort and casino in Japan, set to open in 2030. That project represents the same bet the company has placed repeatedly since 1973: that a new market, reached first, is worth more than any amount spent on the territory already won.