Top MGM executive says record convention calendar lies ahead

MGM Resort International’s top executive breezed through a licensing hearing before the Nevada Gaming Commission Thursday, sharing that the company is looking at the best convention calendar in Las Vegas’ history over the next 16 months.

William Hornbuckle, MGM’s president and CEO, who last appeared before regulators nearly 15 years ago, was unanimously approved for a series of key executive licenses and suitability findings that needed updating since his last appearance.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board had recommended approval of Hornbuckle’s applications in October, but he had to postpone his appearance before the commission last month.

Hornbuckle told commissioners MGM has been successful on the luxury side of its business, in the digital space in multiple states and with its foreign holdings in Macao and Japan.

“Fundamentally, our business is sound and solid,” Hornbuckle told commissioners. “It’s been encouraging to see this fall our convention business and event activity in particular pick up.”

But Hornbuckle admitted not every sector is doing well.

“I still think there’s a market condition where those that have are continuing to spend, and so our luxury properties continue to do exceptionally well. And frankly, value-oriented customers are still struggling, and that’s remained true this fall. But I think generally speaking, we’re in good stead,” he said. “I think we’re looking forward to the first part of the year. We have a massive convention calendar. I think over the next 16 months, there’s more convention business on the books for Las Vegas in our hotels than the city has ever seen before.”

MGM’s reach into Macao and Japan are key to the company’s Asian presence.

“Our Macao business continues to boom,” Hornbuckle said. “We came out of COVID strong. We’ve taken more than our fair share of that marketplace, given our scale and our size, and we’re pleased by that.”

Japan represents the company’s future in Asia.

“I was just recently in Macao and also took time to stop in Osaka,” he said. “We are now, after 16 years of this, coming out of the ground. It is a $12 billion-plus project. Thanks for going up in pricing. Japan is seeing inflation for the first time in like the last 40 years. Great timing for us. But we’ll have 12,000 employees. It’ll be probably the world’s largest casinos, if not one of. And we look at the tremendous success that Singapore is having with great admiration and great hope. We’ll be the only casino licensee in all of Japan with a population of 120 million people. And so we see that as a massive opportunity for the company.”

Commissioners also noted the role of Hornbuckle and his wife, Wendy, in the development of a new children’s hospital in Las Vegas.

“We are the largest metropolitan area in the country without a single standing children’s hospital,” he said. “Intermountain, which you’ve seen pop up now in the community often between sponsorships and things that they’re doing to ingratiate themselves with this community, want to put a children’s hospital together. We have done an arrangement with UNLV and the research center for a piece of land that sits out on the research center land just off of (the 215 Beltway). We have hopes of breaking ground this year, it’s about a $1 billion-plus project. And my wife and I have agreed to step on board and help raise money towards this cause. It is desperately needed.”

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.