Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

MGM insists new resort outside D.C. won’t pry business from Las Vegas

MGM National Harbor

Alex Brandon / AP

The MGM National Harbor logo is seen on a roulette table in the casino during a tour of the MGM National Harbor, Friday, Dec. 2, 2016 in Oxon Hill, Md. The $1.4 billion resort near the nation’s capital opened Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016.

OXON HILL, Md. — Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International’s first casino-resort in Maryland opened to the public on Thursday night as thousands of eager guests and local residents passed through the glass front doors of the $1.4 billion MGM National Harbor.

“We’re bringing the same standards for hospitality, service and quality to Maryland that we’re recognized for in our hotels in Las Vegas and around the world,” said MGM National Harbor President Lorenzo Creighton at a news conference earlier in the day.

“MGM National Harbor will drive both global trade and travel to the area, strengthening Washington, D.C., as a tourist magnet,” added MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren.

Hotel rooms at the new resort range from 400 to 3,210 square feet and were selling for a nightly price of $400 to $1,200 for the first week following the opening, said resort spokeswoman Alaina Curry of Kirvin Doak Communications. Parts of MGM National Harbor were constructed on top of the facility’s parking garage to enhance guests’ overlooking views of the Potomac River, National Harbor, Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol by elevating the structure even higher.

Of 3,600 total full-time employees the hotel plans to hire at National Harbor, at least 2,000 are residents of Prince George’s County, Curry said. The county also recently established a dealer training school to develop homegrown talent for National Harbor’s casino.

But Curry was adamant that such a development will not take events or casino business away from Las Vegas.

“Not at all because it’s in a totally new market on the East Coast,” Curry explained. “It’s meant to complement what MGM has already developed in Las Vegas and give birth to a new lane in hospitality for this region.”

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker is opening a shoe store at the resort’s shopping center, while chefs Jose Andres and brothers Bryan and Michael Voltaggio will be opening a seafood restaurant and steakhouse, respectively. Upcoming acts set to take the stage at National Harbor’s 3,000-seat theater include Cher, Bruno Mars and Ricky Martin. National Harbor is also hoping to eventually host boxing matches, Curry said.

While National Harbor’s 308 total rooms make it about one-16th the guest capacity size of MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which has over 5,000 total rooms, the Maryland resort’s 125,000-square-foot casino, which includes 3,300 slot machines, 124 table games and 39 poker tables, is just slightly smaller than MGM’s flagship Las Vegas hotel, whose gaming floor is 150,000 square feet.

Area officials said Thursday they’re estimating up to $50 million in annual tax revenue from the casino, some of which they hope will go toward education.

For residents of Maryland’s Prince George’s County, the addition of a casino-resort in the economically plateauing area was met with excitement Thursday. New street signs off Interstate 95 and around the county point motorists to the resort while the county’s popular public busing system has added multiple new routes to drop off locals and tourists alike at National Harbor, which stands as the lone skyscraper on the riverfront city Oxon Hill’s skyline.

“It’s unmistakable, you can’t miss it,” said 42-year-old Kyle Newcomb, a county resident and annual Las Vegas visitor who stopped by National Harbor late Thursday afternoon to try his hand at some of the slots.

Another resident, hotel bellman Armando Hernandez, grabbed luggage out of arriving cars on Thursday afternoon and warmly welcomed visitors. Hernandez, 50, said he had been driving a taxi part time and raking leaves for a landscaping company to help support his wife and two daughters before securing the job at National Harbor. He believes the new resort will provide economic relief for skilled workers in the growing area, like him, in search of full-time work.

“More than anything this is good for jobs here — it just adds some life and some opportunity to our community,” Hernandez said.

Uber driver and 20-year county resident Robert Bessinger said he made 18 round trips back to National Harbor from his Oxon Hill home on Thursday, from about noon to midnight. His previous record for number of Uber trips in a day, though 12 months of driving for the company, was 10.

“I think you’re going to see a lot more tourism here, and plenty of locals filling the place up,” Bessinger, 32, said. “The demand has been incredible.”

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