Mandalay Resort Group (formerly Circus Circus Enterprises) was an American hotel and casino operator based in Paradise, Nevada. Its major properties included Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur and Circus Circus, as well as half of the Monte Carlo. In terms of market capitalization, it was one of the largest casino operators in the world. Its stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol "CIR" and "MBG".
The company's longtime name originated with the Circus Circus casino, opened by Jay Sarno in 1968. The company was incorporated in 1974, as Circo Resorts Inc., owned by casino executives William Bennett and William Pennington. Circo was formed to take over management of Circus Circus, and the company would take ownership nearly a decade later.[1][2] In 1978, Circo Resorts was renamed Circus Circus Hotels Inc.,[3] after the opening of Circus Circus Reno.
The company went public in 1983, as Circus Circus Enterprises,[1][6] and traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The company's properties found success in the 1980s offering a Las Vegas experience to families subsequently experimented upon by its competitors. Its converted Circus Circus (originally developed for the upmarket) and later Excalibur properties offered gaming opportunities for adults and separate non-gambling games and theme-park-style experiences for underage visitors under the same roof.
The group subsequently developed the Excalibur in 1990, the Luxor in 1993 and the Mandalay Bay in 1999 for which the group was renamed.
The group entered into a joint venture in 1993 with Don Carano of Eldorado in Reno to develop and build Reno's largest and tallest megaresort titled Silver Legacy. The $350 million hotel opened on July 28, 1995. Circus Circus Enterprises held a majority stake in that Reno resort.
Circus Circus Tunica opened on August 29, 1994. It was rebranded in 1997 as Gold Strike Tunica and given a more upscale theme. The total cost for the remodel was estimated to be $125 million.[12]
In 1995, Circus Circus purchased the Hacienda from Archon Corporation.[16] By this time, the Hacienda was dwarfed by the many new megaresorts that were being built, in particular the Luxor, which had just been recently completed. On December 10, 1996, the Hacienda was closed to the public after 40 years, and imploded later that month. This implosion was broadcast on the Fox Network as a part of their New Year's Eve 1996 telecast. Despite the implosion, parts of the old resort still stood, due to the building not falling into its footprint, but toppling into its parking lot. The next day a wrecking crew was brought in to bring down the remaining parts. In March 1999, it was replaced by the Mandalay Bay.
On May 23, 2002, the Mandalay Resort Group announced a second 1,122-room hotel tower at their Mandalay Bay property, with a cost of at least $200 million. Construction began on the tower in September 2002. The name of the tower, THEhotel at Mandalay Bay, was chosen in September 2003. The tower opened on December 17, 2003.
On June 4, 2004, one of Mandalay's largest competitors, MGM Mirage, announced a bid to acquire it for $68 per share plus assumption of debt. Although the proposal was announced after the stock market closed, the volume of trading in Mandalay stock on that day was quadruple the normal, with the stock closing at $60.27 per share.[19] The ensuing negotiations between the two companies included at one point an announcement that the Mandalay board was rejecting the offer because of antitrust concerns.[citation needed] On June 15, 2004, however, both companies' boards approved a revised offer of $71 per share. The agreement called for MGM Mirage to pay $4.8 billion and to assume $2.5 billion in debt.[20] The transaction was completed on April 25, 2005 for $7.9 billion.[21][22]
MGM executives were confident that antitrust regulators would not require the sale of any of the two companies' properties.[23] Michigan law, however, forbade one company from owning multiple casinos, requiring the sale of either the MGM Grand Detroit or Mandalay's 54% stake in the MotorCity Casino.[24] After some vacillation about which property to sell,[25] Mandalay accepted a $525-million offer for its interest in MotorCity from Marian Ilitch, the casino's second largest shareholder.[26]
MGM Resorts International is an American hospitality and entertainment company. It operates resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, Macau, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Sanya, including the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand and Park MGM.
Mirage Resorts was an American company that owned and operated hotel-casinos. It was acquired by MGM Grand, Inc. in 2000, forming MGM Mirage.
The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about 4.2 mi (6.8 km) long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits in the unincorporated towns of Paradise and Winchester, but is often referred to simply as "Las Vegas".
Excalibur Hotel and Casino is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, in the United States. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International. The resort features a medieval castle theme and is named after King Arthur's mythical Excalibur sword. Property features include a 92,389 sq ft (8,583.2 m2) casino, a 28-story hotel with 3,981 rooms, and various restaurants.
Circus Circus Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the northern Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Phil Ruffin. Circus Circus includes the largest permanent circus in the world. It features circus and trapeze acts, as well as carnival games, at its Carnival Midway. The resort also includes the Adventuredome, an indoor amusement park.
Mandalay Bay is a 43-story luxury resort and casino at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International. It was developed by Circus Circus Enterprises and completed at a cost of $950 million. It opened on March 2, 1999, on the former site of the Hacienda hotel-casino. MGM acquired Mandalay Bay in 2005, and The Blackstone Group became a co-owner in 2020. Vici acquired MGM's ownership stake in 2022.
Circus Circus Reno is a hotel and casino located in Downtown Reno, Nevada. It anchors a network of connected hotel-casinos in the downtown Reno core that includes Silver Legacy Reno and Eldorado Reno and are owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. It includes a 1,620 room hotel and a 66,515 sq ft (6,179.4 m2) casino which features free circus acts on a regular basis throughout the day over the midway which also offers 33 carnival games.
Primm Valley Casino Resorts is a group of three hotel-casinos in Primm, Nevada, along Interstate 15 at the California state line. They are owned and operated by Affinity Gaming. It is named after the Primm family, benefactors of the hotel and casino properties by Ernest and Gary Primm.
The Colorado Belle was a casino hotel on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada, owned and operated by Golden Entertainment. Initially closed on March 17, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on May 18, 2020, Golden Entertainment announced that the Colorado Belle would remain closed "indefinitely," even after casinos were allowed to reopen. As of January 2024, the property remains closed.
Nevada Landing was a hotel and casino designed to resemble two riverboats. It was located in Jean, Nevada, United States, near the California state line, within a quarter mile of Interstate 15. The hotel, owned by MGM Resorts International, had 303 hotel rooms, four restaurants, over 800 slot machines, live keno, table games, banquet facilities, and wedding services. The property was typically marketed with its sister hotel, the Gold Strike Hotel and Gambling Hall, located across the I-15 freeway.
Terrible's Hotel & Casino, formerly the Gold Strike Hotel and Gambling Hall, is a defunct casino hotel in Jean, Nevada, approximately 13 mi (21 km) north of the California state line, and about 32 miles (51 km) south of Downtown Las Vegas. It opened in 1987, and closed in 2020. It was owned and operated by JETT Gaming from 2015 until its closure. It had 811 rooms, several restaurants, and 40,006 square feet (3,716.7 m2) of gaming space. The property is planned to be demolished and replaced with an industrial park.
Gold Strike Tunica is a casino hotel in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi, 20 minutes south of Memphis, Tennessee. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Cherokee Nation Businesses.
The LV Strip is one of the designated Nevada Gaming Control Boards reporting areas. It consists of the Las Vegas Strip casinos and many of the surrounding casinos. The Strip earns roughly 50% of the gaming revenue from all sources for the state of Nevada.
Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino, named after nearby Railroad Pass, is a hotel and casino located in Henderson, Nevada.
Gold Strike Resorts was a family of gaming companies based in Jean, Nevada.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
MGM Growth Properties, LLC (MGP) was a real estate investment trust based in Summerlin South, Nevada, that invested in large-scale casino properties. The company had whole or majority ownership of 15 properties, all of which were operated by MGM Resorts International. The company leased the properties to MGM Resorts via triple-net leases. The company was acquired by Vici Properties in April 2022 for $17.2 billion.
Vici Properties Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in casino and entertainment properties, based in New York City. It was formed in 2017 as a spin-off from Caesars Entertainment Corporation as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. It owns 54 casinos, hotels, and racetracks, four golf courses, and 38 bowling alleys around the United States and Canada.
↑ "Licensing bid rejected". Las Vegas Review-Journal. November 17, 1978. Retrieved January 11, 2025. A corporate name change for Circo Resorts Inc., operator of Circus Circus, to Circus Circus Hotels Inc.
↑ Vogel, Ed (May 23, 1995). "Merger plan gets approval". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on April 15, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.–viaFactiva (subscription required)
↑ Joel J. Smith (June 17, 2004). "MotorCity Casino to be sold". Detroit News. Archived from the original on June 8, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2016.–viaFactiva (subscription required)
↑ Howard Stutz (December 4, 2004). "MGM Mirage changes tactics in Detroit". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on June 7, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2016.–viaFactiva (subscription required)
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