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Detroit Businessman Interested in MotorCity Casino

DETROIT, Michigan – As reported by the Detroit Free Press: "Detroit businessman and casino owner Don Barden, spurned in his earlier attempts to get a casino in Detroit, said Monday he's interested in buying a casino that MGM Mirage might be forced to sell if it succeeds in a bid to buy rival Mandalay Resort Group.

"But if MGM Mirage chooses to sell the MotorCity Casino, its local investors have the first right of refusal to buy out the shares of parent Mandalay, said Vivian Carpenter, president of Atwater Entertainment.

"Atwater and its partners, including Marian Ilitch, the wife of Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch, own a little more than 46 percent of MotorCity.

"…Michigan law says a company with a Detroit casino license cannot own more than 10 percent of another Detroit casino.

"That means MGM Mirage would have to sell either its 97-percent stake in MGM Grand Detroit, one of the company's most profitable casinos, or the 53.5 percent Mandalay owns in MotorCity Casino.

"…Barden said it's hard to guess which casino MGM Mirage might shed. MGM Grand Detroit is highly profitable and the company owns nearly all of it, meaning it could get a good price for that asset and help offset the debt from the merger, he said. On the other hand, it might choose to sell the casino it owns less of because it brings in less to the bottom line.

"…Barden now owns four casinos -- one each in Indiana, Nevada, Colorado and Mississippi…"

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