MGM Resorts International has bought an office building in Washington, D.C. for use as a base for “advancing public policy initiatives,” according to a statement released last week by the operator.
MGM Resorts, which operates 10 hotel-casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, said Ayesha Khanna will lead the new Washington office as senior vice president for federal government affairs. Khanna served as chief counsel to Harry Reid (D-Nevada), who recently retired after 30 years in the U.S. Senate. She was also an international trade counsel on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee under U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), and an attorney at the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Commerce Department.
Khanna’s team will include Norman Ross, vice president of federal government affairs, who will work from Washington, and Denice Miller, senior vice president of government affairs, who will work from Nevada. The statement said the team will advance MGM Resorts’ position on “critical issues, such as travel, tourism and gaming.”
“Today’s announcement of our Washington, D.C., office and the continued development of our talented policy team is the first of many steps we aim to take to build our public affairs capabilities and strengthen our role as a strong corporate citizen on a wide range of key issues,” John McManus, MGM Resorts executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, said in the statement.
TheStreet.com noted that MGM’s announcement came the same week that President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee said he’d “revisit” the 2011 Justice Department ruling that opened the door for online poker.
During his January 10 confirmation hearing, attorney general nominee and U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), said he was “shocked” by the 2011 ruling, in which the Justice Department interpreted the Wire Act of 1961 as applying to, and prohibiting, only interstate sports betting.
“I would revisit it, and I would make a decision about it based on careful study,” Sessions said, answering a question from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina). “I haven’t gone that far to give you an opinion today.”
