Inside Gaming: MGM Resorts to renovate rooms at 2 Strip properties, more news
MGM Resorts International executives said during a recent earnings call that the company plans to renovate hotel rooms at two of its Strip properties in the coming years.
Rooms at the Aria and The Cosmopolitan hotel-casinos will be updated, according to MGM. Bill Hornbuckle, president and chief executive officer of MGM, told analysts and investors that room renovations at Aria will begin in 2026 and at The Cosmopolitan in 2027.
A company spokesperson said there were no additional details to share at this time.
The Las Vegas-based gaming and hospitality corporation is presently overseeing room renovations at MGM Grand hotel-casino. The $300 million room remodeling project at MGM Grand is expected to be complete by the end of 2025.
Aria opened in 2009. The hotel features over 4,000 rooms.
MGM took over operations of The Cosmopolitan in 2022 for $1.6 billion. The 3,000-room hotel opened in 2010.
Caesars Republic coming to Lake Tahoe this summer
Caesars Entertainment is spending $160 million to transform Harvey’s Lake Tahoe into Caesars Republic Lake Tahoe Hotel & Casino, the company recently announced.
The renovation includes “state-of-the-art upgrades, luxurious accommodations and elevated dining and gaming options while immersing guests in a new, contemporary resort designed to embrace the look and feel of Lake Tahoe,” according to a news release.
The 1.6 million-square-foot resort will undergo a complete renovation. The 88,000-square-foot casino floor will be renovated with new carpeting, lighting, tables, and chairs, as well as new slot machines, a new High Limit Room, and a World Series of Poker room.
“The property transformation has begun and will continue throughout 2026 with the all-new hotel tower, hotel lobby, stellar restaurants and the start of a completely reimagined casino coming online this summer for our guests to enjoy right away,” said Anthony Carano, president and chief operating officer of Reno-based Caesars Entertainment. “Our second phase will begin in the fall, with the entire project completing next summer.”
NBA on prediction markets
The National Basketball Association has joined Major League Baseball and the American Gaming Association in voicing concern about prediction markets offered by KalshiEX and Robinhood regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
A scheduled roundtable discussion about companies that offer prediction markets for sporting events was abruptly canceled last week.
The NBA joined other critics of prediction markets in a letter to the commission by Alex Roth, vice president and assistant general counsel of league governance and policy.
“The integrity risks posed by sports prediction markets are more significant and more difficult to manage than those presented by legal, regulated sports gambling,” Roth said in a May 1 letter to the commission.
“While exchanges and brokers operate under the general auspices of CFTC, the broad-based financial oversight does not include the kind of sports-specific controls and protections that are the hallmark of state sports gambling regulations.”
Courts in Nevada and New Jersey have ruled against their respective gaming regulatory bodies after they issued cease-and-desist orders to Kalshi demanding they stop operations.
Analysts say sports predictions now represent 78 percent of Kalshi’s prediction market business.
World Series app
Organizers of the World Series of Poker have rolled out the WSOP+ app that will automate the process of registering and paying entrance fees for this year’s event, which begins May 27 and continues through July.
The app is available in iOS and Android versions at WSOPPlus.com.
“The advantages of bringing WSOP+ online in time for the next World Series of Poker in Las Vegas are endless,” said Jack Effel, senior vice president of poker operations and World Series of Poker at Caesars Entertainment. “Players should feel an immediate positive impact on their experience when they arrive this summer. Beyond WSOP+’s advanced features, there’s no question this innovation should reduce wait times, allowing participants more time to get to the felt and enjoy the events they love.”
Caesars operates the event at its Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas properties on the Strip.
