MGM will run proposed National Harbor casino

“We don’t view ourselves as a slot house company - that is not interesting to us - but rather an integrated resort space company,” said James J. Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International.

Murren said the project would solicit input from the community and ensure that the site would fit the surrounding area. “We’re not going to drop Las Vegas in National Harbor,” he said. MGM has been observing the gaming market in Maryland for years and now sees an opportunity to build a resort on par with their other facilities, Murren said.

The casino would require an overall investment of more than us$ 800 million, about us$ 600 million of which would come from MGM, Murren said. The balance is expected to be put up by Peterson Cos. But the project is contingent on Maryland voters approving an expansion of gambling to include a sixth casino license and table games as well as a revised tax rate for slot machines.

A tax plan similar to one approved by the Senate earlier this year, which reduced the tax rate from 67 percent to 52 percent and placed a 10 percent tax on table games, was sufficient, Murren said. The House did not pass that plan before the clock ran out on the regular legislative session April 9. An 11-member work group has been considering an expansion of gaming this month and is expected to offer draft legislation next week that would be discussed during a special General Assembly session in July.

“This is an exciting opportunity for the residents of Prince George’s County and Maryland,” Baker said in a statement Friday. “We remain hopeful that the people will have a chance to vote on bringing a high-quality resort casino that will create thousands of construction and full-time jobs and generate millions in additional revenue for Prince George’s County and the state.”

Murren said he expected the project to create about 2,000 jobs during the construction phase, likely to last about two years, and another 4,000 permanent jobs.
State financial analysts have estimated that a destination casino - which would include a hotel, shops and other amenities - with 3,000 slot machines would generate more than $520 million in gross revenue for the state. MGM’s proposal would include 4,000 machines and 200 table games, according to Murren.

Under Maryland law, the awarding of casino licenses by the state must be open to competitive bidding, according to legislative staff. But the final proposal discussed by lawmakers April 9 would have limited eligible casino sites in Prince George’s to a narrow area that includes National Harbor and little else. It’s not yet clear whether possible legislation proposed by the work group would include similar geographic limitations.

Murren and Jon Peterson, senior vice president of Peterson Cos., met with Governor Martin O’Malley (D) and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. of Chesapeake Beach to discuss the plan last Friday. “They believe that they can employ a lot of people, a lot of Marylanders, building the site and then working at the site,” O’Malley told reporters Friday, adding that he wasn’t surprised a major casino operator like MGM was eyeing Maryland because of its central location on the East Coast and proximity to the nation’s capital.

O’Malley said he hoped to put forward some sort of expansion proposal soon, based on the work group’s recommendations, and said that he was expecting the legislature to convene in a special session. The operators of the recently-opened, us$ 500 million Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover have argued that adding a sixth license before the other casinos are fully up and running would jeopardize their investment, a position echoed by Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold on Tuesday. “It’s a breach of faith to a businessman who plays by the rules and makes a half-billion-dollar investment,” Leopold told The Gazette. “It’s a terrible message to send to business people all over the country who want to invest in Maryland.”

A special session, likely to begin July 9, would need to occur this summer to ensure that the issue could be placed on the ballot in this fall’s general election. Delaying consideration would mean the issue wouldn’t go before voters until 2014. A special session could cost the state about us$ 25,000 per day.