After tiptoeing into Atlantic City, N.J., through the joint venture Borgata casino, MGM Mirage announced plans to raise the stakes in the struggling East Coast gambling mecca by building a $5 billion, 72-acre resort next to the Borgata.

The complex reportedly will resemble MGM Mirage's CityCenter project in Las Vegas with three hotel towers with over 3,000 rooms, the city's largest casino with 5,000 slot machines, 200 tables, a theater and 500,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and nightclubs. Additionally, reports indicate that MGM Mirage will set aside 12 acres for future development — perhaps for residential or timeshares. Upon receiving government approval, MGM Mirage is expected to start groundbreaking next year, and hopes to open by 2012.

Despite facing competition from new slots parlors in Pennsylvania and New York, and full-fledged Native American-operated casinos in Connecticut, development in Atlantic City is heating up. Next week, Pinnacle Gaming is expected to implode the Sands to begin groundbreaking on its 18-acre oceanfront Las Vegas-style resort. Also, Morgan Stanley is expected to begin building a 20-acre resort near Showboat. Not only are both expected to open ahead of the MGM Mirage project, but both will be on the Boardwalk, AC's closest thing to the Vegas Strip.

Interest in building megaresorts in AC began with MGM Mirage and Boyd Gaming's JV, the Borgata, which opened in 2003 in the city's Marina district. Unlike most of the older hotels on the Boardwalk, Borgata not only focuses on table games, giving it an edge against Philadelphia, but also features a half dozen celebrity chef restaurants and multiple nightclubs. Its arrival led to a massive renovation of Caesars, which along with the Borgata, are the only casinos not struggling in the face of regional competition. — Matthew Wurtzel

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