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MGM Resorts interested in opening a casino and hotel in Toronto
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Toronto may one day be known as Sin City of the North if one of the world's largest gambling companies and a notorious brothel get their way.
According to reports, MGM Resorts International is interested in opening an entertainment complex, including a casino and hotel, in Toronto, while Nevada's infamous Moonlite Bunny Ranch has expressed its desire to open up shop after the courts struck down Canada's bawdy-house laws.
MGM Resorts International's development staff recently visited Toronto and has hired a local firm, Sussex Strategy Group, to make its case at city hall, according to a report in Tuesday's Globe and Mail.
At a meeting last week, MGM associates had information discussions about a casino with Mayor Rob Ford's staff, a dozen councillors and political aides, with the company exploring a $2 billion to $6 billion investment in the city, the newspaper reported.
"It's an amazing market, it's an amazing city," Alan Feldman, MGM's senior vice-president of public affairs, told the Globe and Mail. "We'd be prepared to invest an awful lot in the development of the concept."
MGM Resorts International owns several gambling destinations, including Bellagio, Luxor, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage in Las Vegas, and properties in Detroit and Dubai.
Meanwhile, the people behind the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel near Carson City, Nev., are considering an outpost in Canada, according to a report in the Toronto Sun.
Owner Dennis Hof told the newspaper he is planning to scout possible locations in Toronto in June.
"I see Toronto as a classy European kind of city with flair and style," Hof said.
Hof's Bunny Ranch may be the world's best-known brothel, largely due to the HBO series "Cathouse," which follows the lives of workers at the bawdy house.
Toronto city Coun. Josh Matlow is opposed to both proposals.
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