Casino firms said to eye new U.K. deals

Monday, March 15, 2004 | 11:01 a.m.

Officials in the British city of Liverpool are in talks with Las Vegas casino resort operator MGM MIRAGE and with Las Vegas Sands, which owns The Venetian hotel-casino in Las Vegas, about developing a resort there, the Daily Post newspaper in Britain reported.

It wasn't clear if MGM MIRAGE and Las Vegas Sands are competing for the project or are cooperating on it.

An MGM MIRAGE spokeswoman in Las Vegas declined to confirm the talks or other details, saying the company is "seeking development opportunities throughout the United States and throughout the U.K. as well."

Separately, the Telegraph newspaper in Britain reported that Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands is looking to invest billions of dollars to build several destination attractions of up to 150,000 square feet each.

Las Vegas Sands has so far approached about seven soccer clubs in the United Kingdom about partnerships to build casinos on stadium parking lots, the newspaper said.

The clubs include Rangers, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Celtic, Sunderland, Portsmouth and Plymouth, the paper said. Hotspur turned down the offer and Rangers confirmed that it has spoken to the company but wouldn't say whether a deal is likely, it said.

Las Vegas Sands representatives could not be reached for comment by press time.

The United Kingdom is in the process of deregulating its gambling industry to allow more casinos as well as destination resorts aimed at jump-starting economic growth.