Jon Ralston assesses gaming titan’s views

By Jon Ralston (contact)

Friday, Aug. 31, 2007 | 8:10 a.m.

Terry Lanni was insistent Thursday.

The MGM Mirage chief executive insisted the Dubai World multibillion-dollar cash infusion had no nexus to settling with the Culinary. He insisted his company was better positioned than the other Strip giant, Harrah's, to make more acquisitions. He insisted that he is nowhere near ready to make way for Jim Murren or anyone else as the head of the company.

And, Lanni insisted, Gov. Jim Gibbons is doing a "good job," although he disagrees with him and Gondolier Numero Uno Sheldon Adelson on diverting room taxes to pay for transportation improvements.

Lanni's comments came during a wide-ranging interview on "Face to Face." Here's some of what he said:

"I can't speak for the Culinary Union," he said. "I can speak for us. It didn't have any effect on us."

Really, I wondered, the prospect of labor unrest didn't worry him as he negotiated what he would later call a "transforming event" for the company and the Strip?

No, Lanni said, because "from the day we began those negotiations on Aug. 1st, my conversations with (Dubai World chief) Sultan Sulayem ... I said, 'Before we even begin these negotiations, I trust you understand we have various union contracts, and we're in negotiations now, but we're going to have a union. Is that going to be an issue for you?' He said, 'No.' It was never an issue."

Despite his certainty there would be no strike, Lanni said he "was bothered by the (union) rhetoric. You'll notice the rhetoric on our side was not there. I made no comments publicly. I'm sorry comments were made. I think reasonable people dealing in reasonable ways can come up with reasonable solutions. I think that is effectively what happened. But I don't care for the rhetoric, and I was personally bothered by it."

Harrah's private equity investors "may put in additional equity," Lanni posited, "but if they don't, they're going to be paying another 140, 180, 190 million dollars per year in interest. That will have an effect."

That is, Harrah's will have less flexibility and will be at a disadvantage in potential acquisitions here and elsewhere. And Lanni implied that MGM Mirage is far from done buying properties.

"I don't want to say who my heir apparent is, because I love doing what I'm doing."

And, I wondered, if he did, that would be a sign that he is leaving, right?

His wry retort: "Either that or there would be a coup, which would be worse."

"I think he's doing a good job as governor," Lanni said, quickly adding, "I don't agree with everything that he has proposed. But I am a supporter of Jim's and continue to be."

Lanni said he "didn't think (the room tax diversion) was appropriate ... because I think the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is a very resilient and a very competent entity led by Rossi Ralenkotter, who is a very competent individual who does a superb job. It's very important to market to this world to come here."

So does he think Gibbons was just buying into Adelson's vaporize-the-LVCVA agenda? He wouldn't go that far but said, "I know for a fact that Mr. Adelson would like to do away with the LVCVA. He filed suit against it � I don't agree with him on that subject. He has a right to have his particular opinion."

Lanni was insistent about one more thing, too, at the end of the interview. When I asked him whether he could help get MGM majority stockholder Kirk Kerkorian, the famously reclusive nonagenarian, to appear on "Face to Face," he had a simple answer.

It would be easier for me to get $5 billion from the company.