The $1.3 billion deal to sell Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem to MGM Resorts International has collapsed, according to multiple sources. What would have been one of the largest property sales in the history of the Lehigh Valley faltered late last week and MGM ended its pursuit of the Bethlehem casino complex, sources with knowledge of the deal told The Morning Call. While city officials have called Sands a good corporate neighbor that has built arguably the most successful casino in Pennsylvania, some were quietly rooting for MGM to take over in the hopes that it would move more quickly to…

MGM Resorts will make its first-ever splash into real money internet gaming this year when it becomes the newest entrant into New Jersey’s growing online gaming space. The Las Vegas-based casino operator announced Wednesday morning that it has sealed a partnership with GVC Holdings PLC, a global sports betting and online gaming provider, to launch an online casino and poker platform in the state under the playMGM brand. The platform will be MGM’s first foray into the online casino space and is scheduled to launch later this year. It will offer more than 300 casino games playable on mobile and…

A week ago came the first inklings that the second-largest casino operator might be interested in buying a property from the world’s largest, as MGM Resorts International was showing interest in perhaps purchasing the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Pennsylvania from Las Vegas Sands. The Morning Call of Allentown was among the outlets reporting a week ago that Pennsylvania gaming officials had confirmed a deal was in the works and that Sands Bethlehem had already notified its employees of the possibility. Then on Wednesday came a follow-up report that a deal had been reached, with “an agreement in principle” having…

MGM Resorts has launched what it describes as the first real-money mobile gambling platform to be offered by a casino in the US. The easyPlay Mobile Tournaments platform, developed by mobile gaming technology company oneLIVE inc, allows guests at nine Las Vegas resorts to compete with other players in a variety of tournament games using their mobile devices or InteractivePro Tables located at MGM’s properties. MGM said scheduled tournaments will include slots, bingo and video poker as well as social, casual and console games. “The introduction of easyPLAY Mobile Tournaments at our MGM Resorts properties gives our guests an exciting,…

Murren’s comments came via an interview with News3LV in Las Vegas, in which he touched on a number of subjects. At the end, the interviewer broached the subject of online gambling; Murren spent more than four minutes talking about the issue, sometimes passionately. Loosely referencing the Sheldon Adelson-backed effort to ban online gambling at the federal level — the Restoration of America’s Wire Act — Murren once again dismissed the idea that prohibition is an effective way to deal with the issue: “People are gambling illegally online — Americans — right now,” Murren said. “We don’t know how old they…

Casino operator MGM Resorts International wants to build a $1b gaming venue in Atlanta, but serious obstacles remain. On Wednesday, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that MGM was scouting suitable locations in downtown Atlanta for a complex that would feature a casino, a luxury hotel, a live entertainment venue and other non-gaming amenities. MGM spokesman Clark Dumont cautioned that MGM’s plans were only in “the very preliminary stages” but the company viewed Atlanta as a “beautiful market.” The market may be beautiful but it’s also completely inhospitable, as Georgia is one of a handful of US states that have yet…