MGM to re-apply for Atlantic City relicensing

MGM Resorts is planning to return to the Atlantic City gambling market.

Atlantic City skyline (Jerry Driendl, Getty Images)

Harry Hurley of Townsquare Media WPG Talk Radio 1450 AM in Atlantic CIty reports that MGM Resorts will be on the agenda of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission on Wednesday to apply for re-licensing and plans to be a "cornerstone in Atlantic City for years to come."

Hurley said on the air that MGM still owns a key piece of Atlantic City property next to Harrah's that could play into future plans.

Attorneys Nicks Menas, a real estate attorney who served on the transition team of Gov. Chris Christie and Bill Layton, a former political director for the New Jersey State Republican Committee and presently the chairman of the Burlington County Republican Committee, were the driving forces to get MGM to apply, according to Hurley. They recommended that MGM resubmit for licensure, "under the cloak of changed circumstances," which Hurley calls "significant" in ensuring approval by the Casino Commission.

In 2007, the company announced plans to build the $5 billion, multi-tower, 3.000 room MGM Mirage resort and casino that would include a 1,500 seat theater, retail and convention space adjacent to the Borgata.

The project ground to a halt in 2008, however, after the company’s earnings plunged during its third quarter. In 2010, MGM attempted to leave New Jersey completely, putting its 50 percent share in the Borgata up for sale after the company’s relationship with Pansy Ho, their partner in the Chinese gambling resort of Macau, came under question. Pansy Ho was believed to have connections to Asian organized crime gangs at the time.

However, after there were no takers for the share, the company in 2013 applied to New Jersey Casino Control Commission to keep its stake and reconsider its status in order to “once again be an active, contributing member of the New Jersey gaming marketplace through our 50 percent ownership of Borgata.”

The news comes on the day that Christie will head up a summit of legislative leaders, casino industry officials, local representatives and organized labor for a historic summit on the future of Atlantic City following the closure of Showboat and Revel. Trump Plaza will close on Sept. 16 putting 8,000 workers out of work.

Harry Hurley and Kevin McArdle contributed to this report.