Management team may be favored as casino investor

Friday, April 28, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

DETROIT -- One group is emerging as the leading contender to buy a 40 percent share of Greektown Casino, the Detroit News reported.

Millennium Management Group -- hired to manage Greektown -- is up against Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and MGM Grand Inc. for purchase of the share, held by businessmen Dimitrios Papas, Ted Gatzaros and their wives. The couples are under pressure to sell because their business background included delinquent taxes and defaulted loans.

Experts say Millennium and its partners are offering as much as $250 million and should be able to open the casino by fall, the News reported.

Gatzaros and Papas must deliver sale documents Monday to the Michigan Gaming Control Board. The board will vote on the sale May 16.

The Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Tribe owns half of Greektown and has a right to match offers for the 40 percent.

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