NAACP says MGM Grand’s minority contracting inadequate

Monday, June 19, 2000 | 9:20 a.m.

Las Vegas NAACP officials said the company is doing too little to buy goods and services from black companies. The issue came up during a recent Nevada Gaming Control Board meeting to consider MGM Grand's purchase of Mirage Resorts.

MGM Grand at first disputed the claim, but later said the $1.6 million it has spent on black-owned businesses was inadequate. The figure does not count companies hired by its general contractors.

In Detroit, MGM Grand has spent $40 million on contracts with minority companies. Detroit requires casinos to grant 30 percent of contracts to women- and minority-owned businesses.

MGM Grand said it now will require general contractors to include minority companies in all bids.

"It was clear and obvious to us that the record in purchasing and letting out contracts wasn't anywhere near where it should have been," MGM Grand spokesman Alan Feldman told The Detroit News for a story Monday.

But leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said the casino's actions are insufficient. The NAACP plans to discuss the industry's commitment to blacks at its national convention next month, said Wendell Anthony, president of the NAACP's Detroit branch.

"It appears the lion is losing its teeth as it relates to biting into the economic power for African Americans," he said.