MGM Resorts Unit Gets Macau OK for Cotai Casino

MGM Resorts International (MGM) said the Macau government granted its MGM China Holdings Ltd. unit a lease to develop a luxury resort and casino in Cotai, Macau.

The company paid the government about $56 million as the initial payment for the land concession contract.

The resort, with a budget of $2.5 billion, will be built on a 17.8-acre-site and include roughly 1,600 hotel rooms, 500 gaming tables and 2,500 slots.

Construction is expected to take up to 36 months.

MGM Chief Executive Jim Murren told The Wall Street Journal in March he believed the Macau government would soon approve the company's plan to build a casino in its Cotai district. He showed The Journal drawings of the casino, which featured towers designed to look like stacks of patterned Chinese jewelry boxes.

Macau is the only place where gambling is legal in China. Cotai has become the new center of growth in booming Macau and home to Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s (LVS) Venetian Macao casino-resort. But after an initial burst of excitement, the government had stopped approving new projects, making would-be builders including MGM, Macau gambling king Stanley Ho's SJM Holdings Ltd. (SJMHF, 0880.HK) and Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN), wait years for approval.

Shares were trading 2.6% higher at $11.20 premarket. The stocks is up 4.7% so far this year, through Wednesday's close.

Write to Melodie Warner at [e-mail]

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