MGM Resorts buys Washington, DC, office to advance policy initiatives
MGM Resorts International has bought a new Washington, D.C., office building to use as a base for advancing public policy initiatives.
In a statement last Thursday, MGM Resorts, which operates 10 Strip hotel-casinos, said Ayesha Khanna will lead the new Washington office as senior vice president for federal government affairs. Khanna served as chief counsel to Harry Reid, D-Nev., who recently retired after 30 years in the Senate. She was also an international trade counsel on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee under U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and an attorney at the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Commerce Department.
Khanna’s team, MGM Resorts said, will include Norman Ross, vice president of federal government affairs, who will work from Washington, and Denice Miller, senior vice president of government affairs, who will work from Nevada. The statement said the team will advance MGM Resorts’ position on “critical issues, such as travel, tourism and gaming.”
John McManus, MGM Resorts executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, said in the statement, “Today’s announcement of our Washington, D.C., office and the continued development of our talented policy team is the first of many steps we aim to take to build our public affairs capabilities and strengthen our role as a strong corporate citizen on a wide range of key issues.”
TheStreet.com and other news outlets noted that MGM’s announcement came the same week that President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee said he’d “revisit” the 2011 Justice Department ruling that opened the door for online poker.
During his Jan. 10 confirmation hearing, attorney general nominee and U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said he was “shocked” by the 2011 ruling, in which the Justice Department interpreted the Wire Act of 1961 as applying to, and prohibiting, only interstate sports betting.
“I would revisit it, and I would make a decision about it based on careful study,” Sessions said, answering a question from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “I haven’t gone that far to give you an opinion today.”
In 2015, Graham and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, introduced legislation to roll back the interpretation of the Wire Act to prohibit all interstate betting and restore federal restrictions on online gambling.
Reached on Monday, MGM Resorts spokesman Gordon Absher said, “Our plans to expand the company’s policy presence — in fact, even the purchase of our D.C. office building — predate those recent comments” by Sessions.
So far, only Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey allow online casino gambling; California and Pennsylvania are considering legislation to allow it.
MGM Public Policy LLC, an affiliate, paid $3.75 million, or roughly $548 per square foot, for the 6,845-square-foot office building at 501 C St. NE earlier this month, The Washington Business Journal reported, citing land records.
The acquisition follows the Dec. 8 opening of the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, about 33 miles north of Washington.
MGM Resorts shares fell 1 cent, or 0.03 percent, Friday to close at $28.62 on the New York Stock Exchange. Stock markets were closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. TheStreet rates MGM stock B and “buy.”
Contact Matthew Crowley at mcrowley@reviewjournal.com. Follow @copyjockey on Twitter.