Kirk Kerkorian Built MGM Three Times — and Each Version Was Bigger Than the Last
Kirk Kerkorian was a high-school dropout who became a fighter pilot, then a charter airline owner, then the largest individual shareholder of MGM Studios — three times over. He used MGM's name to build the largest hotel in the world. Twice.
Kirk Kerkorian opened the world's largest hotel — the original MGM Grand — in 1973. It burned down in a 1980 fire that killed 85 people. He rebuilt it as Bally's, then opened a new MGM Grand in 1993 (also the world's largest at the time). MGM Resorts now owns Bellagio, Aria, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, and Park MGM (the Mirage was sold to Hard Rock in 2022). In 2019–22, MGM sold the real estate of nearly all those properties to Blackstone REIT for $17.2B and now leases them back.
If you ask any old Vegas hand who built the modern Strip, three names come up: Howard Hughes, Steve Wynn, and Kirk Kerkorian. Hughes bought everything in the 1960s. Wynn invented the modern resort with Mirage in 1989. Kerkorian did something different — he made MGM a real-estate machine.
From fighter pilot to airline mogul
Kerkorian dropped out of school in 8th grade. He boxed amateur in Los Angeles. During WWII he flew RAF Mosquito transport planes from Canada to Scotland — a route with a 25% loss rate.
After the war he bought a single charter plane in 1947, founded Trans International Airlines, and ran it as a Vegas-LA gambler shuttle. He sold TIA to Transamerica in 1968 for $104M — his first fortune.
The first MGM Grand — 1973 to 1980
In 1969 Kerkorian bought a controlling interest in MGM Studios for the name. He didn't want to make movies; he wanted to put the lion logo on a casino. In 1973 he opened the MGM Grand Las Vegas — at the time the largest hotel in the world (2,084 rooms).
The property was a hit. Then on November 21, 1980, an electrical fault in a deli started a fire that killed 85 people and injured 650 — still the third-deadliest hotel fire in US history. Kerkorian rebuilt the property and sold it to Bally Manufacturing in 1986 for $594M. Today that building is the Horseshoe Las Vegas (formerly Bally's, formerly the original MGM Grand).
The second MGM Grand — 1993
After selling the original, Kerkorian was contractually barred from using the MGM name on a Vegas casino — for seven years. The day the non-compete expired, he started construction on a brand new MGM Grand on the south Strip.
It opened in December 1993 with 5,005 rooms — once again the largest hotel in the world. The original featured a 33-foot-tall lion statue out front (gambling-superstitious Asian high rollers refused to walk under a lion's mouth, so it was eventually removed).
The Mirage acquisition — 2000
Kerkorian's biggest deal came in 2000 when he bought Mirage Resorts from Steve Wynn for $6.4B — getting Bellagio (1998), the Mirage (1989), Treasure Island, and the Beau Rivage in Mississippi all in one move. The combined company became MGM Mirage, then later MGM Resorts International.
This is when MGM became the dominant Strip operator. They owned MGM Grand, Bellagio, Mirage, TI, Mandalay Bay (acquired 2005), Luxor, Excalibur, NY-NY, Monte Carlo (now Park MGM), and CityCenter (Aria + Vdara). Roughly half the south Strip was MGM real estate.
By 2007, one in three Strip rooms was rented from MGM. No Vegas operator before or since has had that kind of concentration.
The Blackstone REIT deal — $17.2B in real-estate sales
This is the part most casual fans miss. Between 2019 and 2022, MGM did something radical: they sold the real estate of nearly all their casinos to a Blackstone-controlled REIT (real-estate investment trust) for a combined $17.2B. MGM still operates the casinos and pays rent.
The deals:
- 2019: Bellagio sold for $4.25B
- 2020: MGM Grand + Mandalay Bay sold for $4.6B
- 2021: Aria + Vdara sold for $3.9B
- 2022: Mirage sold to Hard Rock for $1.075B
The point of these sales: convert hard-to-finance real estate into cash, distribute it to shareholders, and run the casino business asset-light. It also explains why MGM is now obsessive about loyalty data and online sportsbook revenue — those are the parts they still own.
What MGM looks like in 2026
MGM Resorts in 2026: Bellagio, Aria, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Park MGM, NY-NY, Luxor, Excalibur, Vdara on the Strip. National: Borgata Atlantic City, MGM National Harbor (Maryland), MGM Grand Detroit, Beau Rivage (Mississippi), Empire City (NY).
MGM Rewards is the loyalty program (formerly M life, rebranded in 2023). It's smaller than Caesars Rewards in property count but has higher comp rates at the top — Bellagio Diamond comps are notably better than equivalent-tier Caesars properties.
The Kerkorian era ended when he died in 2015 at age 98. The current MGM Resorts is run by CEO Bill Hornbuckle and is, more than anything else, a real-estate management company that also runs casinos.
For our up-to-date take on which MGM properties have the best comp economics: our comps guide. Live MGM Rewards multiplier days: /multipliers.
Topics
- mgm
- history
- vegas
- kerkorian