MGM Resorts sells Circus Circus, Bellagio on Las Vegas Strip
ASSOCIATED PRESS / 2004
People line the edge of the lake at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, after the hotel opened at 5 p.m.
LAS VEGAS >> MGM Resorts International has announced the sale of two casinos that will significantly alter its portfolio of Las Vegas Strip properties.
The Las Vegas-based company announced Tuesday it’s sold the Circus Circus hotel-casino for $825 million to Treasure Island casino owner Phil Ruffin.
The company also sold the Bellagio for $4.25 billion.
MGM and the Blackstone investment group are forming a joint venture that is purchasing the Bellagio and leasing it back to an MGM subsidiary for $245 million annually.
MGM Resorts will get a 5% ownership stake in the joint venture and about $4.2 billion in cash.
Circus Circus opened in 1968. MGM purchased it in 2005.
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Casino magnate Steve Wynn opened the Bellagio in 1998 but MGM took ownership in 2000 when Wynn’s Mirage Resorts merged with MGM.
