TORONTO, April 17 (UPI) -- Entertainment giant MGM Resorts International has hired a Toronto firm to lobby for creating a major Las Vegas-style casino and resort, city officials said.
Alan Feldman, MGM's senior vice-president of public affairs, told the Globe and Mail newspaper in a telephone interview the corporation is considering investing as much as $6 billion in a project that could include hotels, a convention center, spas and full casino gaming.
"It's an amazing market, it's an amazing city," Feldman said. "We'd be prepared to invest an awful lot in the development of the concept."
MGM has hired the Sussex Strategy Group to lobby on its behalf at the municipal and provincial levels, the report said.
Rightist Mayor Rob Ford has expressed interest in a major casino development, but has said little about it publicly. At least two motions to examine the pros and cons of the idea are now before city hall committees.
On the provincial level, Ontario's Liberal minority government favors such a project that would create an estimated 4,000 jobs, the Globe said.
