The Wall Stree Journal (Reuters article posted because it’s free) is reporting that MGM Mirage announced that they will be divesting is looking to divest their half of the Borgata for greener pastures in Macau.
The (Wall Street) Journal said MGM has faced scrutiny from New Jersey gaming regulators due its business partner in Macau.
MGM hopes its plan to sell its Atlantic City interests will convince New Jersey regulators to curtail their oversight of the company, the Journal said, adding that any additional scrutiny had the potential to cause problems with MGM Mirage’s business elsewhere.
The casino operator is pushing ahead with its plan to list its Macau operations on the Hong Kong stock exchange, hoping to raise up to $500 million as early as the second quarter of this year.
New Jersey has been messing around with MGM Mirage for almost a year. Now one of the better casino operators is likely leaving Atlantic City. I think Boyd Gaming will be able to hold Borgata together for a while.
Carl Icahn seems to be the only person buying casino properties so I’m curious to see who will purchase MGM’s half of the casino. Maybe this will be an entry point for one of the other casino operators that have been rumored to open a casino over the years. We’ll see.
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