MGM National Harbor Gets Ready for Huge New Year's Celebration

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — Just a few weeks removed from a massive grand opening that drew tens of thousands of people, the newly opened MGM National Harbor casino and resort is getting ready for a big New Year's celebration, and has released some special plans for its first New Year's Eve.

The resort will offer its guests a "heightened resort atmosphere," a champagne toast, live music and entertainment at the $1.4 billion venue, according to a statement from the property.

“We anticipate an incredibly busy holiday weekend,” MGM National Harbor General Manager Bill Boasberg said in the statement. “We are focused on accommodating our hotel, restaurant and show reservations, plus our M life loyalty members and ticketed guests. In an effort to preserve the resort atmosphere that is such an important part of our guest experience, we are taking steps to maintain an appropriate number of guests within our resort.”

That means you won't be able to just walk into the casino on New Year's Eve -- this will be a resort-wide ticketed event that will be limited to guests who have reservations, qualified M life members and people with resort admission tickets. The guidelines will be in place from p.m. Dec. 31 until 5 a.m. Jan. 1.

You can buy a ticket for $75 in advance through Ticketmaster by clicking here.

Guests are being asked to wear "upscale or semi-formal dress" for the event.

A portion of proceeds from the event will go toward the Prince George's County Police Foundation and HEROS, Inc., which offers financial assistance to "families of fallen heroes" in the D.C. area, the statement notes.

There will be a New Year's Eve performance by Duran Duran at the MGM Theater, and people with a ticket to that show will be admitted to the casino.

Image via MGM National Harbor