Two high-ranking officials at Strip resorts won key executive management licenses in unanimous votes following suitability hearings by the Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday.
Jonathan Halkyard, chief financial officer of MGM Resorts International, and Patrick Nichols, president and CEO of The Venetian, were supported by commissioners in separate hearings.
Halkyard returned to the state after beginning his playing career in Northern Nevada.
He started in 1999 at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and became CFO of what became Caesars Entertainment Inc. in 2006.
After a short stint at NV Energy, he worked for Extended Stay America in North Carolina before being recruited by MGM in 2020.
Halkyard discussed MGM’s international connections in Osaka, Japan and Macau.
MGM is in the midst of building the first ever integrated resort in Japan in partnership with Japanese financial firm Orix. MGM has a $3 billion commitment for its 40 percent stake in Osaka to be spent over four years, with 10 percent already invested. MGM Osaka is an 11 billion dollar project.
“It’s a pretty significant commitment for MGM Resorts over the next few years, but the economic opportunity there that we think is pretty much a generational opportunity, and it’s going to be a really good thing for MGM Resorts and Osaka when it opens in about 4½ years,” Halkyard told commissioners.
Halkyard, a private pilot, also serves on the board of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
Nichols joined The Venetian in 2008 after graduating from Cornell University.
“I literally grew up in the hospitality industry,” Nichols told commissioners. “My parents had a number of limited service hotels, 30 to 70 rooms, and I was put to work. You name it, I’ve done it. Front desk, housekeeping, maintenance, painting, landscaping, I learned the business inside and out.”
He joined The Venetian when the Palazzo opened and jumped at the chance to help open Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
When MGM Resorts International acquired The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, he helped transition to MGM ownership.
At that time, Apollo Global Management acquired The Venetian and brought Nichols back.
At 39, he is one of the youngest CEOs on The Strip.
Commissioner George Markantonis asked Nichols about The Venetian’s multi-venue compliance committee that recently appeared before regulators to respond to money laundering complaints.
“I’m not on our compliance committee, but I’ve attended every compliance committee meeting since I’ve been at the resort,” Nichols said. “It’s something I’ve just learned over the years that there’s no customer, no decision that’s worth my reputation, the state’s reputation, the Venetian’s reputation. And so that’s very, very important to me. I think our compliance position at the resort starts with me. The team knows that.”
In other business, commissioners unanimously approved a sports book license for Boomer’s at the Mizpah Club in Tonopah.
After opening a sports book last month at the North Las Vegas Ojo Locos property, Boomers CEO Joe Asher appeared before commissioners on his latest project in central Nevada.
Asher said Boomer’s still has five more sports book openings in the pipeline, making it the fastest growing sports betting business in the state.
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