MGM National Harbor is locked in a vehement dispute with Prince George’s County about the hotel and casino’s 2019-2021 taxable assessed value — a disagreement with potentially sizable business and tax revenue ramifications.
After a three-day hearing in 2023, the Maryland Tax Court ruled Jan. 2 that the assessed value of the property — the highest-grossing casino outside of Nevada — is just over $1 billion for the three-year assessment period that began 2019. That’s halfway between the $1.324 billion sought by the county and a local planning commission and the $687 million claimed by the entity that holds the lease for the MGM site.
But the battle isn’t over. Both sides in early February filed petitions for judicial review — in effect appealing the case — to the county’s Circuit Court. No major hearings have been scheduled in that case yet, per the court docket.
The disputed assessment amount translates to roughly $9 million of tax revenue annually, based on our calculations from MGM’s actual 2019-2020 tax bills. So for the three-year period in question, the ballpark total dollar impact, either to MGM’s pocketbook or the affected governments’ cumulative coffers, would approach $30 million. The county government wouldn’t give us precise numbers.
