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MGM Resorts closed a $900M deal to buy a 50% stake in Atlantic City’s Borgata hotel—the most successful casino in the NJ gambling market—from Boyd Gaming.
MGM Resorts will operate the hotel, but will sell the entire property for $1.18B to the company’s new REIT, MGM Growth Properties, Bloomberg reports.
The deal is a big bet by MGM on the future of the struggling NJ casino town, which has seen gambling revenue cut in half since 2005 as new casinos in NY, PA and MD haven taken slices of Atlantic City’s business. Just last week, Gov. Chris Christie signed a financial stabilization plan to sidestep a bankruptcy filing by the city.
MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren tells Bloomberg the deal would strengthen the company’s growing East Coast footprint, which includes the opening of a Maryland casino later this year, and another opening scheduled for 2018 in Springfield, MA. [Bloomberg]
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