Mashantucket Pequots & MGM Mirage Form Alliance

(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Mashantucket, Connecticut and Las Vegas, Nevada — The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and MGM Mirage announced today that they have agreed to enter into a multi-faceted strategic alliance encompassing a major new destination hotel/casino resort at Foxwoods Resort Casino and the development of additional gaming and non-gaming projects, both at Foxwoods and outside of Connecticut.

The strategic alliance, which is subject to the execution of definitive agreements and such regulatory approvals as may be required, contemplates a series of ongoing relationships between MPTN and MGM Mirage, including the following:

MGM Mirage will consult with MPTN in the development of the $700 million destination hotel/casino resort, currently under construction at Foxwoods and scheduled to open in Spring 2008. The new resort will utilize one of the most well-known brands in the hotel/casino resort industry – MGM Grand – under long-term license arrangements, and will contain the kind of fine dining, night club, entertainment, spa and recreational and retail amenities for which MGM Mirage is famous.

The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and MGM Mirage will collaborate on the master planning of future destination gaming resorts and other facilities at Foxwoods. The parties contemplate that additional MGM Mirage brands may be associated with such projects.

MGM Mirage will provide MPTN with a variety of technical services in connection with operations at Foxwoods.

MPTN and MGM Mirage will develop a variety of cross-marketing opportunities between their resorts.

MPTN and MGM Mirage will enter into a strategic alliance to develop gaming and non-gaming enterprises, including Indian and non-Indian gaming, throughout the United States and abroad. MGM Mirage will provide a loan of up to $200 million, intended to be used to finance a portion of MPTN's investment in joint projects.

Terry Lanni, MGM Mirage's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: "Our strategy includes joining forces with strong and well-respected partners to enhance our growth prospects. Foxwoods, under the experienced management of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, is one of the most successful and respected Indian gaming enterprises, operating one of the preeminent hotel/casino resorts in the United States. We are honored to associate our company and our brands with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, and to provide MPTN with the benefit of our experience in developing destination resorts in multiple venues. The alliance with MPTN provides a whole new dimension for our company and MPTN to combine the best of both organizations as equal partners in the development and operation of appropriate gaming and non-gaming opportunities."

Michael J. Thomas, Chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, said: "The Tribal Nation here at our ancestral homelands in Mashantucket welcomes and honors this strategic alliance with MGM Mirage. Our affiliation with MGM Mirage provides us with an experienced advisor in gaming, a proven resort development partner, at Mashantucket, and an equal partner in a powerful venture – all at once. The quality and positive energy of the people who lead MGM Mirage mirror the culture we have embraced from the onset of our gaming enterprise.

"Our Tribe has been carefully matching our needs and opportunities with potential strategic partners in recent years. This relationship with MGM Mirage will enable our Tribal Community to develop a destination resort with a greater range of entertainment experiences than any other in the world, while also diversifying our Tribal economy without deviating from our core competencies. We will also develop, as a Tribal Community, the institutional capacity to maximize our economic success over the long term through this relationship without compromising the direct control of gaming at Mashantucket that we are noted for within Indian Country."