NHL owner is sued over stake in casino

Jeannine DeFoe and David Rovella

Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2005 | 9:59 a.m.

Marian Ilitch, the co-owner of the Detroit Red Wings, was sued by investors in a casino who claim she tried to buy a majority stake in the MotorCity casino from MGM Mirage and Mandalay Resort Group without consulting them.

Lawyers for Thomas Celani and other investors in the casino said that Ilitch broke an agreement when she ignored their requests to make a joint offer for MotorCity and instead negotiated her own deal with MGM Mirage and Mandalay. Ilitch, who owns 25 percent of the casino, has executed a letter of intent to buy the 53.5 percent casino stake for $525 million, the suit says.

MGM Mirage is purchasing Mandalay Resort Group for $7.9 billion. MGM Mirage has said it will have to sell either Mandalay's stake in MotorCity or its own MGM Grand Detroit to comply with Michigan law about casino ownership. Mandalay owns 53.5 percent of the casino.

Ilitch, with her husband Michael, owns Ilitch Holdings Inc., which also owns the Detroit Tigers Major League Baseball team and the Little Caesars Pizza restaurant chain. Tom Shields, a spokesman for Ilitch Holdings, didn't return a call for comment.

The complaint seeks an injunction that would block a sale to Ilitch. Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage is negotiating with Ilitch about the sale of the MotorCity casino, spokeswoman Yvette Monet said.

"Though many parties are named to the lawsuit, this appears to us to simply be a dispute among some of the partners in MotorCity and does not involve our company," MGM Mirage said in an e-mailed statement. "Having said that, it is inappropriate for us to comment on the details of the case."