MGM Resorts Pushes For Northern New Jersey Casino Expansion

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Friday, May 8th, 2015 | Written by Shane Larson

James Murren, chief executive officer of MGM Resorts International, told a group of reporters gathered at the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) offices recently that allowing a new casino to be built in northern New Jersey could be a useful way to generate extra revenue for the state’s struggling gambling industry. Murren also said that “the market opportunity up north is vast,” before adding that his company would be interested in pursuing a license if permission for a North Jersey casino is eventually approved by legislators.

MGM Big Player In New Jersey

MGM Resorts International is one of the biggest casino operators in the world, and in 2013 it generated around $9.8 billion in revenues from its various properties located throughout Nevada, Mississippi, and Michigan, as well as from its part ownership of casinos in Illinois, and Macau. In 2014, MGM Resorts subsequently secured a 50% share in the state’s biggest gambling establishment, the Borgata casino, while the company also owns large sways of land across the whole city, particularly around Renaissance Point. Needless to say, MGM Resorts is a big player in the New Jersey casino market and having its chief executive endorse a casino project which could potentially hit Atlantic City profits could go a long way towards selling state lawmakers on the controversial issue.

Controversial Issue

Since establishing a casino industry in 1976, Atlantic City has maintained a monopoly over the state’s casino market, with subsequent legislative efforts successfully protecting the gambling resort from competition located both inside and outside of New Jersey. By 2006, however, Pennsylvania launched its own casino industry and before long the state’s huge population of 12.79 million was no longer reliant on New Jersey for its gambling needs. Consequently, 2012 then saw Pennsylvania usurp Atlantic City as the country’s second biggest casino market, a situation that might have been avoided had legislators had a clearer vision of the future, and built Las Vegas Strip non-gaming type attractions, rather than simply relying upon the antiquated lone casino model, according to MGM Resorts CEO Murren. In recent times, Atlantic City has at last embraced the attractions needed to attract more visitors to the gambling resort, and while Murren says he believes the worst is now behind, he has warned that AC needs to be more proactive going forward.

Meadowlands Casino A Perfect Choice

According to James Murren, New Jersey should now sanction a new first-class casino to be built in a largely undeveloped expanse of land in the northeastern part of the state called the Meadowlands. Not only would the site be capable of keeping North Jersey residents from traveling to Philadelphia and New York for their gambling needs, but being just a few miles from Manhattan could even help attract gamblers from New York City, as well as international gamblers visiting NY City either as tourists or business people.

Despite expressing a desire to manage any North Jersey casino project, however, Murren is just one in a long line of casino companies who would welcome the contract. Others operators to already signal their interest include the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Caesars Entertainment and Genting Limited.

MGM Against Online Gambling

While MGM Resorts would welcome an expansion of New Jersey’s land-based casino industry, CEO James Murren says he is against regulated online gambling, and wouldn’t mind even if a US federal ban on iGaming was introduced. This is in spite of the fact MGM has a 50% stake in the Borgata casino which last month generated $4,192,024 in online revenues, with casino games accounting for $2,962,252, and poker a further $1,229,772. Ironically, Murren’s anti-iGaming stance doesn’t extend to sports betting, or daily fantasy sports (DFS). Commenting on his attitude towards online gambling, Murren noted:

“[MGM] are in the resort-based business, we are not in the convenience gambling business. People will go to our resorts because we provide a form of hospitality and entertainment they cannot get at home and they certainly can’t get on the Internet. Our business model is not based on the Internet driving business to us. So getting the growth of Internet gaming in and of itself is not required for us to meet our growth projections.”