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MGM Grand Only Private Casino Applicant

LAS VEGAS -- Three months after the Nevada Gaming Commission approved rules allowing the state's casinos to build private casino areas, only the MGM Grand has applied to open a private casino.

The MGM Grand filed its application about one month ago, Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said Thursday.

"The MGM Grand application is now under investigation," Neilander said. He said in January that investigating a property interested in opening a private casino would probably take a couple of months.

The rules enacted earlier this year were designed to allow the state's casinos to capture the business of privacy-craving high rollers, gamblers who currently find private gambling only in Europe, Asia and one tribal casino in Connecticut.

Regulators wrote rules requiring the new private casinos to only allow gamblers with at least $500,000 in cash or credit line. Minimum wagers on the private casinos' slot machines and table games were set at $500.

Neilander was unable to say why only one private casino application has been filed with the control board.

MGM Grand parent MGM Mirage controls about half of the Strip's high-end market, with most of the company's biggest gambling action taking place at Bellagio, MGM Grand and The Mirage.

Neither Bellagio nor The Mirage has yet filed an application to open a private salon, nor have competing top-end venues: The Venetian, Caesars Palace and the Aladdin.

"Of our properties, placing the (private gaming) salon at the MGM Grand makes the most strategic sense," MGM Mirage Senior Vice President Alan Feldman said, noting the proximity of the proposed private betting space to the Mansion, the MGM Grand's most upscale accommodations.

Feldman said company officials have yet to decide whether to apply for private casino licenses at Bellagio or The Mirage.

"The Bellagio (high-end) gaming area's already pretty secluded," Feldman said. "We may find that one gaming salon at the MGM Grand will be enough to serve our customers."

Feldman declined to identify what features the MGM Grand plans for its private casino, and also refused to say how much the change is slated to cost.

Aladdin spokesman Fred Lewis said the bankrupt $1.05 billion megaresort has yet to decide whether to apply for permission to open a private casino.

"We're all ready to go, but we're still considering whether to do so," Lewis said. "We'd just need to install locks and whatever additional (surveillance) electronics is required."

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