Runs eleven side-by-side casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, connected by one loyalty programme.
At a glance
- Depends onUpstream position: supplies 6 industries, depends on 0
- ScaleRevenue is in the top 5% of all stocks globally
Runs eleven side-by-side casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, connected by one loyalty programme.
MGM Resorts International holds eleven adjacent casino licences on a single 4.2-mile stretch of the Las Vegas Strip, and because all eleven properties are within walking distance of each other, customers can earn and spend M life loyalty rewards across all of them in a single visit — something no rival can replicate without owning a contiguous block of licences that the Nevada Gaming Commission has not issued at scale in decades. That walkable licence cluster also lets MGM promise convention organisers coordinated room blocks spanning thousands of keys across multiple neighbouring properties at once, a commitment that requires both physical adjacency and unified management that a geographically scattered portfolio cannot offer. The Nevada Gaming Commission controls how quickly gaming floors can be reconfigured and whether new licences are issued, so MGM's eleven-property footprint is effectively fixed in the near term, and the company cannot simply build its way out of capacity constraints. Because all eleven licences sit at the same 4.2-mile address, any single event that reduces arrivals to the Las Vegas Strip — a disruption at McCarran International Airport, a recession, or a shift in Chinese government travel policy — hits every one of them simultaneously.
How does this company make money?
The biggest share of revenue comes from the casino floor — money lost on slot machines, table games like blackjack and poker, and commissions taken on sports bets through BetMGM. Hotel rooms and the resort fees charged on top of them bring in a second stream. Convention centres inside the resorts collect rental fees from event organisers and mark up the catering that goes with those events. Finally, MGM charges rent to the shops, restaurants, and other businesses that operate inside its resort properties.
What makes this company hard to replace?
M life tier status and accumulated rewards are locked inside MGM's network — they cannot be moved to a competing casino operator, so a loyal customer would lose everything they have built up. Convention organisers face a harder switch because no rival can match the commitment of coordinated room blocks spanning multiple adjacent Strip properties; finding an alternative means accepting a fundamentally different and smaller arrangement. In Macau, MGM China holds a government-issued subconcession that competitors cannot replicate without the Macau government awarding an entirely new concession.
What limits this company?
The Nevada Gaming Commission decides how fast casino floors can be changed and whether new licences get issued. MGM cannot quickly rearrange its gaming floors when player tastes shift, and it cannot add new Strip properties without going back through a multi-year approval process it has no power to speed up. In practice, the eleven properties it holds today are the eleven it will hold for the foreseeable future.
What does this company depend on?
MGM cannot operate without Nevada Gaming Commission licences for each of its Strip properties. It needs McCarran International Airport running at full capacity to deliver the tourists those properties live on. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority drives the destination marketing that fills hotel rooms. MGM China, a joint venture, holds a Macau gaming concession that MGM depends on for its Asian revenue. And BetMGM, its sports betting arm, relies on individual licences granted state by state across the US.
Who depends on this company?
Large convention organisers depend on MGM because no single-property competitor can guarantee the coordinated blocks of thousands of hotel rooms and meeting spaces that major events require — if MGM stepped back, those events would have nowhere else to go on the same terms. Cirque du Soleil and other resident show producers rely on the steady audience flow that only an integrated resort operation can deliver; without that guaranteed foot traffic, their Las Vegas economics fall apart. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission collects tax revenue from MGM Springfield, and that income stream disappears if MGM exits the market.
How does this company scale?
The M life loyalty programme and its cross-property rewards can be extended to any new property MGM acquires at very little extra cost — the data and redemption infrastructure is already built. What does not scale easily is the regulatory side: every new market requires its own gaming licence and its own compliance setup, built from scratch through a separate approval process in each jurisdiction.
What external forces can significantly affect this company?
The Chinese government's rules on who can travel to Macau and how much money they can move out of the country directly affect revenues from the MGM China joint venture. When the US Federal Reserve raises interest rates, MGM's costs go up because the company carries large debts tied to property development. And BetMGM's growth in sports betting depends entirely on individual US states choosing to legalise it — the legal map is different in every state and changes on its own schedule.
Where is this company structurally vulnerable?
If the Nevada Gaming Commission started issuing new Strip gaming licences to rival operators, gamblers would gain walkable casino options outside the M life network. That would dissolve the loyalty loop that makes MGM's corridor commercially powerful, turning its eleven properties from a linked system into a collection of individually competing casinos.
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