MGM Resorts International
MGM Resorts International (MGM)
Overview
MGM Resorts International is one of the world's largest gaming, hospitality, and entertainment companies, tracing its roots to MGM Grand, Inc. in 1986, which became MGM Mirage after acquiring Mirage Resorts in 2000 and was rebranded MGM Resorts International in 2010. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, the company owns and operates a portfolio of destination casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, across several U.S. regional markets, and in Macau, China, alongside a fast-growing online sports betting and iGaming business. MGM generates roughly $17-18 billion in annual revenue, carries a market capitalization in the range of $10 billion, and employs about 78,000 people worldwide, making it one of the largest employers in the gaming and hospitality industry and, by some measures, among the largest casino companies globally by revenue.
What They Do & How They Make Money
MGM Resorts makes money by operating large-scale integrated resorts that combine casino gaming with hotel rooms, convention space, restaurants, entertainment (shows, nightlife, sports venues), and retail — a model designed to capture a visitor's total spend during a single trip rather than gaming revenue alone. Casino gaming (slots, table games, and poker) is typically the single largest revenue contributor at most properties, but rooms, food and beverage, and entertainment collectively make up a large and growing share of revenue as MGM has diversified away from pure gambling toward broader hospitality and live-entertainment experiences — leveraging assets like Las Vegas arenas, residencies, and major sporting and concert events to draw non-gaming visitors. The company also earns management and licensing fees on properties it operates but does not wholly own, and it has built a significant digital wagering business, BetMGM (a joint venture with Entain), that takes in online sports bets and iGaming wagers across U.S. states where legal, monetizing MGM's brand and customer database beyond its physical footprint. In Macau, MGM China operates under a gaming concession from the Macau government, generating revenue predominantly from VIP and mass-market casino gaming aimed at Asian, and especially Chinese, gaming customers. Loyalty and customer-database economics (via MGM Rewards) are central to the model, driving repeat visitation and cross-selling between gaming, rooms, and entertainment.
Business Segments
MGM Resorts reports results across four operating segments:
- Las Vegas Strip Resorts — MGM's flagship, highest-margin segment, encompassing iconic properties such as Bellagio, Aria, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Park MGM, Luxor, New York-New York, and Excalibur. This segment captures gaming, hotel, convention, dining, entertainment, and retail revenue from the Las Vegas market and is typically the largest contributor to consolidated revenue and EBITDA.
- Regional Operations — U.S. properties outside Las Vegas, including casinos in Mississippi, Michigan (MGM Grand Detroit), Maryland (MGM National Harbor), Massachusetts (MGM Springfield), New Jersey (Borgata in Atlantic City), and other regional markets, serving predominantly drive-in, local customer bases.
- MGM China — Macau operations conducted through MGM China Holdings, in which MGM holds a majority (roughly 56%) ownership stake, operating MGM Macau and MGM Cotai under a Macau government gaming concession.
- MGM Digital — The company's online and digital wagering operations, most notably its stake in BetMGM (sports betting and iGaming), along with other digital gaming and entertainment initiatives; this is MGM's newest and fastest-growing segment as U.S. sports betting and iGaming markets expand.
Competitors
- Las Vegas Strip / integrated resorts: Caesars Entertainment, Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands (Venetian's former Strip assets, now Sands' broader Asia focus), and The Cosmopolitan/other independent operators.
- U.S. regional casinos: Caesars Entertainment, Boyd Gaming, Penn Entertainment, and various tribal and state-licensed operators.
- Macau/Asia gaming: Sands China, Wynn Macau, Galaxy Entertainment, Melco Resorts, and SJM Holdings.
- Online sports betting and iGaming: FanDuel (Flutter Entertainment), DraftKings, Caesars Sportsbook, and Fanatics Sportsbook competing directly with BetMGM.
Competitive Position
MGM's principal competitive advantages are scale, brand strength, and irreplaceable real estate — its concentration of marquee Las Vegas Strip properties (several occupying prime, difficult-to-replicate Strip frontage) gives it pricing power and the ability to host large conventions and events that smaller operators cannot match. Its loyalty program, MGM Rewards, and cross-property database let it move customers among its many Las Vegas and regional assets, and its Macau concession provides exposure to the world's largest gaming market by gross gaming revenue, alongside geographic diversification away from a single regulatory jurisdiction. BetMGM gives the company a foothold in the structurally growing U.S. digital wagering market, monetizing brand and customer relationships without the capital intensity of physical resort development, though it has historically trailed FanDuel and DraftKings in market share.
Key risks include high sensitivity to macroeconomic cycles and discretionary consumer spending — leisure and convention travel to Las Vegas can contract sharply in downturns — as well as significant capital intensity and leverage typical of the resort-casino business. MGM China's results are exposed to Macau-specific regulatory conditions, Chinese government travel and currency policy, and broader geopolitical/economic conditions affecting Chinese consumer travel. The regional segment faces state-by-state competitive and regulatory risk, including new casino licenses and expanding legalized gaming (including online) that can cannibalize physical visitation. In digital wagering, BetMGM operates in an intensely competitive, promotion-heavy market where well-capitalized rivals like DraftKings and FanDuel have historically outspent competitors on customer acquisition, pressuring near-term profitability even as the overall online betting market grows.