Malaysian conglomerate Genting Bhd is to break ground on its first Las Vegas casino resort on May 5, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, quoting an email from a company spokesman.
The US$4-billion Resorts World Las Vegas (pictured in an artist’s rendering), on a site formerly controlled by United States-based operator Boyd Gaming Corp at the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip, is likely to be a multi-phase development. No date was mentioned in the report for the opening of the first phase.
It is projected to have 3,000 hotel rooms and a casino with a combined 3,500 slot machines and table games in its initial phase, stated the newspaper.
Genting bought the site from Boyd Gaming in 2013 for US$350 million. On the property was the unfinished Echelon development. Boyd Gaming halted construction on Echelon during the global financial crisis in 2008.
It was reported in June last year that Resorts World Las Vegas would incorporate up to 85 percent of the structures already put up in the part-built Echelon project.
In May, the Nevada Gaming Commission granted Genting preliminary approval of suitability. The company will need to apply for a full gaming licence before Resorts World Las Vegas can open.
Genting also runs Malaysia’s only casino property – Resorts World Genting. Via various operating units Genting also has casino interests in New York state, the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, Singapore, the Philippines and in February broke ground on a scheme in Jeju, South Korea.
But the firm has recently experienced setbacks in its Malaysia and Singapore operations, with earnings in the fourth quarter falling 23 percent and 30 percent respectively, on deteriorating VIP gambling business.
