Nod for Genting’s Las Vegas casino project

PETALING JAYA: Genting Group has been given the nod to build its US$4 billion (RM12.8 billion) Resorts World Las Vegas after the Nevada Gaming Commission approved the project last week, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Citing company officials last Thursday, it said construction would begin this summer on the casino resort development located on a 87-acre site.
Gaming Commission chairman Peter Bernhard said Genting "clearly has the financial stability and business probity" to build Resorts World Las Vegas.
"It will be a game changer and a new step up (for the Strip)," Bernhard said.
The hearing held last Thursday took about an hour and was attended by Genting's president and COO Kong Han Tan and Christian Goode, who oversees Genting's Americas division.
Genting was given a preliminary finding of suitability to hold a state gaming licence and it will still need to apply for a full gaming licence before Resorts World Las Vegas can open.
Construction will take place over multiple years and includes at least two or three phases.
The initial phase will include 3,000 hotel rooms, a casino with a combined 3,500 slot machines and table games, 30 food and beverage outlets, a 4,000-seat theater and an elaborate garden attraction that will serve as the property's front door to the Strip.
"We want to bring something new to Las Vegas," Goode told the commission. "That is the goal on the project."
Genting will build a rooftop sky park and observation deck atop the 674-foot-tall tower, whose height already has been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Other attractions include a 50,000 sq ft, 58-foot high aquarium that will feature a variety of exotic fish.
Goode said site development is underway on the north Strip land. He said the first phase would account for 8,500 direct jobs and 3,300 indirect jobs.
Goode said Genting plans to incorporate 80% to 85% of the Echelon buildings into Resorts World. He said it will take 24 to 36 months to complete the project's first phase.
Genting has a market capitalisation of more than US$40 billion and operates casinos around the world, including Resorts Worlds in Singapore, Malaysia and Manila, the Philippines, and at New York's Aqueduct Racetrack.