MGM Denies Viral Report Claiming Bruno Mars Has Serious Casino ...

19 Mar 2024

Forbes

Topline

MGM Resorts denied an anonymously sourced report from last week claiming singer Bruno Mars owed the resort company millions of dollars in gambling debts accumulated at the company’s Las Vegas casinos, telling Forbes no such debt actually exists.

Bruno Mars of Silk Sonic performs onstage during the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards at MGM Grand Garden ... [+] Arena on April 03, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Getty Images for The Recording Academy Key Facts

Jenn Michaels, the senior vice president of public relations at MGM Resorts International, told Forbes on Monday that Mars “has no debt with MGM,” adding that “MGM and Bruno's partnership is longstanding and rooted in mutual respect” and any “speculation otherwise is completely false.”

Michaels referenced a report from upstart cable news channel NewsNation published last week that claimed Mars’ gambling debts with MGM Casino have reached as high as $50 million, citing an unnamed “Vegas insider.”

Mars, who has his own cocktail lounge at the Bellagio hotel and casino, signed a deal with MGM in 2016 to perform at two company venues in Las Vegas and Maryland, later extending his Las Vegas residency through this summer.

Representatives for Mars declined to comment and directed Forbes’ inquiry to MGM’s statement, while representatives for NewsNation didn’t immediately respond to Forbes.

Key Background

The NewsNation report, published last Thursday, kicked off a flurry of aggregated stories, memes and posts on social media that joked about the singer’s purported debt. The report was also talked about in a podcast hosted by former NFL wide receivers Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson, where the two hosts entertained the story and expressed concern for Mars. The singer has performed for Las Vegas residencies since 2016, raked in tens of millions of dollars through residencies in 2021 and has upcoming performances with MGM this summer. In 2017 and 2018, his 24K Magic world tour grossed more than $300 million.