Southern Nevada’s hotel room inventory will rise by nearly 400 to about 150,500 next month when a new tower of rooms opens at the M Resort.
Penn Entertainment Inc. on Thursday confirmed the Dec. 1 opening of the tower, first announced in September, in Thursday’s earnings call with investors.
During the call, the details of the tower’s opening were overshadowed by Penn’s stunning announcement that the company is terminating its online sportsbook deal with ESPNBet.
The mutually agreed upon separation agreement is effective December 1 and is expected to be completed by the end of the fourth quarter.
The decision is expected to end speculation about whether ESPNBet would seek licensing in Nevada.
M Resorts sportsbook is designated as the official team headquarters hotel for the Raiders and is operated by Caesars Entertainment-owned William Hill.
When M Resort opens its second tower next month, it will double the hotel’s capacity to 765 rooms.
The new tower will open months ahead of when originally projected. The early opening will allow the Henderson hotel-casino to accommodate guests for three major events, the National Finals Rodeo, New Year’s Eve and CES.
In addition to the new rooms, M is adding meeting rooms and a new attention-grabbing restaurant.
Meeting space increased in October with the 15,000-square-foot Montese Ballroom, and Penn said it estimated the total expansion adds 120 new jobs to the resort’s workforce.
Penn previously announced that Emeril Lagasse would open a New Orleans favorite, Meril, in the valley’s southernmost resort.
The $206 million tower expansion is the second of four major projects being undertaken nationwide by Wyomissing, Pennsylvania-based Penn, a large regional casino operator with most of its properties in the east and south.
In Penn’s third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, the company reported a net loss of $865.1 million, or $6.03 per share, on revenue of $1.72 billion. That compares with a net loss of $37.5 million, 24 cents a share, on revenue of $1.64 billion for the same quarter a year ago.
–
