The Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Peter Bernhard said: "As a result of that detailed investigation, anyone who looked at it has been persuaded that this is in the best interests of the state, unequivocally. If this merger forces other companies to provide better service to keep their customers, then that's good for the state of Nevada." It had taken a six months’ investigation to reveal no monopoly concerns in the MGM Mirage and Mandalay Group merger, and the Nevada gambling regulators approved the merger by a 5-Zero vote to create, if at least momentarily, the biggest gaming company in the world.

The new group is owner of some of the world's most famous casinos: The Mirage, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Luxor, Circus Circus and Mandalay Bay. Parading along the Strip lights, they will lead the MGM Mirage-Mandalay properties to combined revenues of over $7 billion per annum. In all there are 11 Strip properties claiming about half of the 74,424 hotel rooms and 40% of the slot machine action on the Strip, and the new group has some 75,000 employees in casinos that extend to 28 properties in Nevada, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan and Mississippi.

MGM Chairman Terry Lanni and President James Murren addressed the Nevada Gaming Commission during the three-hour hearing in Las Vegas yesterday, answering questions posed by the gambling regulators. The major concern to the merger centred around the question of stifling competition in Las Vegas, which the MGM Mirage deemed unfounded. With a case in point being the opening of Wynn Las Vegas in April, Murren commented: "People are looking for ways to participate in this juggernaut of growth here in Las Vegas. There has never been more money available to invest in Las Vegas."

With the Nevada approval, the regulatory process concludes in this State, and approval in Michigan and Illinois should follow suit for a full completion of the merger deal to finalize in about two weeks' time. Meanwhile, MGM Mirage marches on with projects for revenue generating territories like Macau in China, where they expect to open a Casino complex in 2007, and awaits gaming deregulation in the UK to expand their brand and corporate excellence to Europe. (E-02.25.05)

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