Gaming | Genting given green light for LV project

The Nevada Gaming Commission has given the green light to Malaysian conglomerate Genting Berhad for the development of a massive USD4 billion Las Vegas casino project. An opening is expected for the property in 2019.
The new development will be constructed on the Las Vegas Strip on the site of the former Stardust Resort and Casino which was demolished in 2007 after operating for nearly 50 years.
The new resort, titled the “Resorts World Las Vegas,” will include over 3,000 rooms and a 150,000-square foot casino. In a Genting Berhad seminar held last week with the Nevada Gaming Commission, Gerald Gardner, senior vice president of government affairs for the planned Vegas casino, said that the Chinese-themed resort will feature a “celestial Sphere.”
The sphere will flash images of guests momentarily and is expected to draw crowds of millennial customers to the property, according to Gardner. The resort will also feature a Chinese garden, the plans of which indicate it will be larger than the Bellagio Conservatory.
Furthermore, Gardner says that he hopes a proposed 50-foot replica of a Chinese lantern will become a quickly-recognized icon of the resort.
According to market insight website Seeking Alpha, some analysts think that the Chinese-themed Resorts World Las Vegas could positively impact tourism for other properties on the strip. However, other analysts have expressed surprise that the project is going ahead in the face of declining visits to the city by high-end Chinese gamblers.
Genting Berhad’s gaming and hospitality arm currently operates resorts in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, the U.S. and the U.K. DB