To Become the First Tribe to Exist in Vegas, Mohegan
The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) approved Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, the business enterprise of the Connecticut's Mohegan Indian Tribe. The members of the NGCB voted unanimously to recommend that the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) allow the company at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas to conduct gaming.
The NGCB Unanimously Approved the Decision
At its daily meeting on October 7, the NGCB made the approval for the Mohegan Indian Tribe company enterprise and the NGC is expected to review the proposed approval next Thursday, October 22.
Mohegan Gaming will run the casino within Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, a property that closed for remodeling in February and is due to reopen on January 15. Formerly known as Hard Rock Las Vegas, the property is located just east of the Las Vegas Strip.
The casino resort will have its 1,110 guest rooms run by Virgin Hotels, taken in by the property's developer and owner, JC Hospitality, which is set to become part of Hilton Hotel's Curio Collection. No Mohegan logo will be on the house, except for an automated billboard with the name outside the premises. But customers will have plenty to tell them about the operator in signs inside the 60,000-square-foot casino space.
As Mohegan Gaming will run the casino from another corporation on a lease basis, the Tribe will not sign a gambling contract with the state, NGCB Chairwoman Sandra Douglass Morgan explained during the simulated conference. And besides, the estate is not on federal territorial property.
The Casino Infrastructure Excludes Poker Room
The gaming property will have multiple celebrity chefs operating its kitchens but will not have a poker room service. Its sports book, which is owned by the UK-based betfred group's US subsidiary, is currently undertaking the licensing process. In July, Mohegan and Betfred reached a joint agreement that granted the bookmaker the exclusive rights to sell sports wagering at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas tribe's new service.
Mohegan gaming is currently in charge of activities on behalf of other Indian Tribes at Resorts Atlantic City in New Jersey, tribal casinos in Washington and Louisiana, fallsview casino resort in Niagara Falls in Canada and its resorts in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, Mohegan Sun Resort in uncasville and Mohegan Sun Poconos in Wilkes-Barre.
The Tribal company is also currently building a $5 billion resort at Incheon International Airport in South Korea, which may increase its trips to Las Vegas, as Korean citizens form a significant part of Mohegan's Canadian casino.
Mohegan has an eye on another airport, the former Hellenikon International Airport near Greece's Athens, with an request for a possible modern resort license.
