Mohegan Gaming assuming management of Canadian casinos
Mohegan — Mohegan Sun’s about to become an international operator.
Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, the casino’s corporate parent, is set to close Tuesday on a management deal enabling it to assume responsibility for the day-to-day operation of two existing casinos — Casino Niagara and the Fallsview Casino Resort — and the 5,000-seat Niagara Falls Entertainment Centre, a $130 million venue it’s helping develop, all in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Together, the three properties are known as the “Niagara Gaming Bundle.”
Fallsview will continue to be owned by the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., a government agency that sought to privatize management of the facilities in a competitive bidding process that MGE won last year. Two separate local entities will own Casino Niagara and the entertainment center.
Though he declined to provide a specific figure, Mario Kontomerkos, MGE’s president and chief executive officer, said Friday the company is investing “several hundred million dollars" in the deal and expects to generate revenues for itself in the form of management fees and cash flow from operations.
Fallsview, Canada’s largest gaming facility, is located on a 23-acre site overlooking the Canadian and U.S. waterfalls in Niagara Falls. It opened in 2004 following the success of Casino Niagara, which was intended to be an “interim” facility when it opened in 1996. Fallsview features 200,000 square feet of gaming space, a 30-story, 374-room hotel and a 1,500-seat theater. Casino Niagara has 95,000 square feet of gaming space and includes a sports-betting lounge.
MGE’s 22-year agreement with the Ontario lottery will give MGE “plenty of time” to solidify Niagara Falls, Ontario’s place among the leading tourism destinations in Canada and the world, Kontomerkos said.
“It’s already a top destination, attracting 12.7 million visitors a year, and they’ve never had anyone with MGE’s marketing expertise helping them,” he said. “It’s a very exciting opportunity for us — the next stage of our international expansion.”
The MGE-managed properties will compete against the Seneca Niagara Casino, which is across the Niagara River in Niagara Falls, N.Y. It’s owned by the Seneca Nation of Indians, which also operates western New York state casinos in Buffalo and Salamanca.
MGE also is proceeding with the first phase of a gaming resort in South Korea, a $1.6 billion project that’s on track to open in 2022. Kontomerkos said construction crews were “mobilized” late last month at the development site near Incheon International Airport near Seoul. In another international foray, MGE has expressed interest in pursuing a gaming license in Japan.
Closer to home, the company owns Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and manages Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J.; ilani Casino Resort in La Center, Wash.; and Paragon Casino Resort in Marksville, La. In Connecticut, the Mohegan Tribe, which owns MGE, is collaborating with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe on a plan to build a casino in East Windsor. The tribes also have talked to state and Bridgeport city officials about helping to develop a casino in Bridgeport.
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