MGM to Pay Up to $800 Million to Vegas Mass-Shooting Victims

(Bloomberg) -- MGM Resorts International agreed to pay three-quarters of a billion dollars to shooting victims after a gunman at one of its properties on the Las Vegas Strip killed dozens of people two years ago.

The casino giant expects the settlement to range from $735 million to $800 million, depending on the number of plaintiffs who participate. The entire process should be completed by late 2020, MGM said Thursday.

“Our goal has always been to resolve these matters so our community and the victims and their families can move forward in the healing process,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren said in a statement.

The shooter, Stephen Paddock, killed 58 people and wounded hundreds more on Oct. 1, 2017, when he opened fire on Harvest Festival concert fans from a hotel room at the Mandalay Bay.

The 64-year-old retired accountant, who took his own life, was a frequent gambler who spent days assembling weapons and other gear for the attack from his suite at the hotel. It remains the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

The size of the settlement suggests the company is genuinely concerned about compensating victims of the shooting, said Joe Balice, an attorney with Brutzkus Gubner in Los Angeles who wasn’t involved in the litigation. But it also would have been difficult to fight the claims in court, given the “optics” of challenging victims, he said.

“Their business model is based on tourists coming to their properties and feeling safe,” Balice said. “The sooner they put this behind them and out of the headlines, the better.”

MGM, the largest operator of casinos on the Strip, said last month it will convert the site into an indoor community center and sports facility, with a permanent public memorial at the location. The company said in May that its insurers had agreed to provide $751 million for a settlement.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rob Golum in Los Angeles at rgolum@bloomberg.net;Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@bloomberg.net;Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Rob Golum

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