MGM CEO Jim Murren addressing 784 employees of MGM Grand that have worked since the property opened 25 years ago. Murren spoke Friday morning at the new MGM Grand convention center.
The more than 3,000-room Bellagio hotel is situated on the site of the former Dunes Hotel. The Dunes was imploded in 1993, and construction of the Bellagio started in 1996. It cost $1.6 billion to build, making it the most expensive hotel in the world at the time. The Bellagio was former Wynn Resorts Ltd. Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn’s second major casino on the Strip after The Mirage. MGM Resorts International acquired the property from Steve Wynn in 2000. (Tara Mack/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Massachusetts’ first hotel-casino opens in downtown Springfield. The $960 million MGM Springfield has 252 rooms and 125,000-square-feet of casino. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
It only takes a short walk through Circus Circus to realize it attracts a demographic like no other casino on the Strip: families with young children. (Todd Prince/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Statue of Liberty on Las Vegas Strip dons Aces jersey
Unions representing Las Vegas casino workers could call a citywide strike as early as June 1 if they do not reach a deal with employers. Las Vegas casino strikes have been avoided in most cases. The last citywide strike was in 1984. It affected 32 resorts and lasted 67 days. A month-long strike in June could cost MGM Resorts and Caesars as much as $300 million in cash flow, according to a union report In 1984, a union strike fund helped support workers during the period they picketed.
MGM Resorts International has hired at least five former Metropolitan Police Department SWAT team members and several former military officers in recent months as it strengthens security at its properties following the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The company also hired a former Marine Corps sergeant, who is also a firearms instructor, as an emergency response team supervisor in December. “MGM developed an Emergency Response Team Program as part of our commitment to continuous improvement of daily operations and to assess and address security risks,” MGM spokeswoman Debra DeShong said. Each of the five former Metro officers has more than 20 years of experience.
Mandalay Bay, the site of the Oct. 1 shooting, is not turning around as fast as expected, MGM Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren said Thursday. “This is a property that is undertaking a tremendous challenge” and it ”has lagged behind what we had predicted in terms of its performance,” Murren said. The property had a convention cancellation in February and several smaller meeting cancellations, Chief Operating Officer Corey Sanders said. While Mandalay Bay caters mainly to convention attendees some leisure tourists are also “electing to stay away” from the property, Sanders said.
Review-Journal reporters Rick Velotta and John Katsilometes go over the new developments on the Steve Wynn and what is next for the company.
The Culinary union will ask Las Vegas casinos and hotels to supply guest room attendants with panic buttons amid national attention to the issue of workplace sexual harassment. The proposal is part of the union’s demands as it readies for talks for 50,000 of its 57,000 employees on a five-year contract with casinos next month, said Bethany Khan, a spokeswoman for Culinary Local 226. Panic buttons would allow guest room attendants to notify security if they are in an uncomfortable or threatening situation. The union will be renegotiating contracts with Caesars, MGM Resorts International and several downtown casinos starting in mid February.