Gaming briefs for June 23, 2004

Wednesday, June 23, 2004 | 10:37 a.m.

Mandalay postpones stockholder meeting

Mandalay Resort Group has postponed its annual shareholders meeting in order to include for consideration the proposed merger agreement with MGM MIRAGE.

Both companies' boards of directors approved the $7.9 billion acquisition of Mandalay by MGM MIRAGE last week. A final deal is contingent upon approval by Mandalay stockholders as well as regulatory approvals.

The annual meeting was originally scheduled for July 6. The date of the new meeting hadn't yet been set as of Tuesday. MGM MIRAGE said it expects to close the deal by the end of the first quarter of next year.

Meeting set on Indian gaming

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The North Dakota Indian Gaming Association board has called a meeting of tribal officials to discuss the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa's proposal for a casino here.

The meeting is scheduled Saturday in Hankinson. J. Kurt Luger, executive director of both the state association and the Great Plains Indian Gaming Association, said he was not comfortable discussing the issue until after the meeting.

In Minnesota, the Indian gaming association officially opposes off-reservation gambling, said its executive director, John McCarthy.

"We only have nine of the 11 Minnesota tribes involved with our association right now," he said. "That is because of the issue of off-reservation gaming. We are not happy with this issue. We would much rather be unified as one group."

If off-reservation gambling were approved, it would open the "floodgate," possibly making gambling available to non-Indian entities and running rural Indian gambling facilities into the ground, McCarthy said.

"It would mean the beginning of the end for all tribes in the state," he said.