The capacity of the hotel at M Resort nearly doubled to 765 rooms Wednesday night when Pennsylvania-based Penn Entertainment Inc. executives, M resort executives and other dignitaries officially opened the $206 million expansion.
Penn President and CEO Jay Snowden, M Vice President and General Manager Hussain Mahrous and Henderson Mayor Michelle Romero were among the dignitaries who cut the ribbon officially opening the second of four major projects Penn is completing across the country.
The 375-room tower was completed ahead of schedule, assuring M that it will have more rooms for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, New Year’s Eve and January’s CES show.
But more importantly for Penn, M now has greater capacity to provide Las Vegas rewards to Penn Play loyalty card holders. Penn, one of the top regional casino companies in the country, operates in 28 jurisdictions across North America, with a broadly diversified portfolio of casinos, racetracks and online sports games and iCasino offerings.
The M expansion includes the 15,000-square-foot Montese Ballroom, which opened in October, expanding the property’s total indoor and outdoor conference and event space to more than 100,000 square feet. Penn has said the expansion will add 120 new jobs to M Resorts’ workforce.
In his remarks before the ribbon cutting, Snowden also applauded 110 day one employees who have been with the company for more than 15 years.
The M is labeled the “Official Team Headquarters Hotel of the Las Vegas Raiders,” and Snowden noted that the resort’s affiliation with the Raiders and Vegas Golden Knights has confirmed.
“There’s a lot of positive momentum going on here in Henderson, as you all know, with the Raiders and the Knights,” Snowden said Wednesday. “And, of course, when I fly in, I love all the rooftops that go up on the south end of the valley. It’s very noticeable when you fly in.”
At the end of the ceremony, Snowden and his team led the crowd past a large gingerbread and candy model of the resort and onto a red carpet to the resort’s outdoor pool, the Patio. There, guests and the public watched a 12-minute fireworks display, heard a musical performance by Jefferson Starship and watched “Elf,” the 2003 holiday movie starring Will Farrell, on the venue’s 800-square-foot screen.
The M expansion is the second major project in the Penn portfolio.
In August, the company opened the new state-of-the-art Hollywood Casino Joliet, Illinois. Additional projects are on schedule and on budget, including the opening of the new land-based Hollywood Casino Aurora in Illinois, and a hotel tower at Hollywood Casino Columbus, both expected to open late in the second quarter of 2026, and the relocation of Hollywood Casino Council Bluffs expected in the fourth quarter of 2027 or early 2028.
Last month, Penn received $150 million in financing from Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. in connection with the project.
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