MGM Resorts closes on $850M Yonkers casino, raceway acquisition

Eight months after announcing its purchase of the Empire City Casino and Yonkers Raceway, Las Vegas-based hospitality and entertainment giant MGM Resorts has finalized the terms of its $850 million acquisition, LoHud reported. News of the closing came a day after New York State Gaming Commission’s board signed off on the gaming and horse racing licenses that MGM needed for the purchase to go through, according to the outlet. MGM bought the casino and racetrack from the Rooney family, who owned both properties for 46 years. (The Rooneys also own the National Football League’s Pittsburgh Steelers.) “We are pleased to welcome the 1,200 employees at Empire City Casino to the MGM Resorts family,” MGM chairman and CEO James Murren said in a statement. The Real Deal recently reported on Murren’s dispute with fellow gaming mogul Glenn Schaeffer, a former president of the Mandalay Resort Group, over a New Zealand winery. [LoHud]