MGM Resorts International’s decision to enter into an agreement to build a new casino in Maryland has been slammed by a local contractors’ association over the company’s association with Pansy Ho.

The Prince George’s County Contractors and Business Association has hit out at plans for MGM to develop a casino as part of the National Harbor project in Maryland, US. MGM announced that it is to partner National Harbor developer Peterson Companies to build a 4,000-VLT gaming facility on the site. However, the Prince George’s Association has criticised the agreement.

In a statement, the association made reference to a Wall Street Journal report from 2012 on New Jersey gaming regulators’ concerns over MGM’s business partner in China, Pansy Ho. Dating back to 2005, it said, New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement led investigations into MGM’s Macau joint venture with Ms Ho, her connection with her father Stanley Ho and his alleged ties to organised crime.

“Facing the impact of such charges, along with public inquiries and the potential ruling that the company wasn't fit to do business in the state, left MGM Mirage with no other choices but to break an agreement with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission to sell its interests in China or leave Atlantic City. They chose the latter,” the statement said.

The Association’s chairman, Joe Gaskins, said it was “unthinkable” that a company investigated in New Jersey for its links to organised crime would be brought into the National Harbor project.

“We have been hoodwinked, bamboozled,” he said. ‘The minority contracting community has never benefited from the National Harbor and now he [Milt Peterson] wants to bring a company tied to the Chinese, North Korean and Russian mobs into our community.

"There are many reputable operators in the country to choose from, yet Mr Peterson chooses the one with the most questionable background. The State of New Jersey asked MGM to leave and the State of Maryland should stop them at the door as well."