MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle addressed the company’s international opportunities in Japan, Dubai, and Brazil, in addition to New York City, Thursday at the Bank of America 2025 Gaming and Lodging Conference.
MGM is constructing a $9 billion resort in Osaka, Japan, and poured its 52nd pile as of Thursday. The plans call for an opening in the second or third quarter of 2030 with 2,500 rooms in two towers. It will be one of the world’s largest casinos, with 750 tables and more than 6,000 slot machines. The resort will also feature more than 70 food and beverage outlets, a 3,500-seat theater, about one million square feet in convention space, and an outdoor area with bars and restaurants along a garden area. It’s accessed by a ferry terminal.
Hornbuckle used Marina Bay Sands in Singapore as a proxy. MGM will have half the facility, five times the population, and twice the visitation before even opening. Singapore will do $2.5 billion in cash flow in 2025 for Las Vegas Sands with a market of more than $3 billion.
Like Singapore, it will have a fee to enter. It will have villas and high-limit baccarat to attract high-end customers.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us,” Hornbuckle said. “Nothing is a layup in life. Certainly nothing in this has been a layup. We’ve been at this for 16 years. It will be 20 years before we open that I met my first Diet member (in Japan), but we couldn’t be more excited about what this could do for the company.”
The building is 38 stories tall because it’s built on a landfill with pylons going 80 meters deep to hit bedrocks, Hornbuckle said. There will be 3,500 pilings.
“We’re an hour to an hour-and-a-half closer to Beijing and Shanghai than Macau,” Hornbuckle said. “And we know those customers. That’s going to be the secret opportunity to take it from what we think it will be to potentially the next step.”
In New York, where B of A hosted the conference, Hornbuckle hinted that MGM executives will likely hold meetings over their planned resort. Hornbuckle said the City Council votes next week on their MGM Yonkers project, the renovation and expansion of Empire City Casino. They expect a competitive license by the state to be awarded by the end of the year, though New York state Senator Joseph Addabbo, who chairs the Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, has warned the downstate license awards could be pushed back to 2026.
“There is a concern they can’t get the legislature back together to vote on it, but we’ve been assured they’ll get it done. The community wants the cash,” Hornbuckle said. “We have to write a $500 million check.”
Hornbuckle said some of the rules have changed that he’s “not crazy about.” If they spend under $1.5 billion, the license is good for only 10 years. It’s 20 years for spending over $5 billion, he said. The plan is for a $1.7 billion project.
“By the end of the year, we’ll know where we stand,” Hornbuckle said.
Hornbuckle said MGM’s growth priority is Brazil. They have seen enough to believe it’s a $7 billion to $8 billion market. While it’s crowded, they believe they can take a 5%-10% share and thanks to their partnership, they have an advantage with advertising and marketing.
LeoVegas, its online gaming company in Europe, is on solid footing and going in the right direction, Hornbuckle said. Having $2 million jackpots in the UK is paying dividends.
In Dubai where MGM will open a non-gaming resort in 2028, Hornbuckle remains hopeful that gaming will ultimately be approved, as it was for Wynn Resorts in their project on Al-Marjan Island. The MGM project on 25 acres of beachfront property will feature Aria, Bellagio, and MGM names with 1,800 rooms.
MGM has partnered with Wasl Asset Management Group owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai. Each Emirate decides on approving gaming.
The MGM site has 250,000 square feet set aside for future gaming opportunities.
“I thought by now Abu Dhabi would have ruled on what they were doing,” Hornbuckle said. “There’s a lot of dialogue around that and a gaming commission set up. I don’t know when we’ll hear, but the airport is currently to the north and moving to the south along the Dubai/Abu Dhabi border. It’s going to be the world’s largest airport. They’re budgeting $100 million, which is insane. If this gets a casino, and I believe it will over time, we think it’s a massive opportunity given the logistics and location.”
In response to a question on the hold up, Hornbuckle said that each ruler has the right to say yes or no to gaming. They’re waiting for that while the regulations are in place with the gaming commission.
“We know how it would work, but don’t have permission from the ruler of Dubai to go forward,” Hornbuckle said, adding there’s nothing in the rules that prevent the existing project from being considered for a gaming license.
“We’ve taken that into consideration.”
