LAS VEGAS (AP) – MGM Mirage Inc.’s board on Tuesday approved a $4.8 billion cash offer for it to buy Mandalay Resort Group in a deal that would create the industry’s dominant casino operator.

MGM Mirage’s offer is contingent upon it being accepted by Mandalay, according to a source familiar with the lengthy closed-door MGM Mirage board meeting.

Mandalay’s board also was considering the buyout offer later Tuesday.

The deal would pay Mandalay $71 per share. The agreement also includes the assumption of $2.5 billion in Mandalay debt and $600 million in bonds that can be exchanged for stock in the company.

MGM Mirage Inc. has said the cash price represents a 30 percent premium to Mandalay’s closing share price on June 3, the day before MGM Mirage’s initial offer of $68 per share was disclosed.

The two Las Vegas-based companies have been in friendly but intense negotiations that unraveled Friday after MGM Mirage requested a 15-month option to pull out of the deal while retaining strategic control over Mandalay during the time period.

The companies regrouped over the weekend and salvaged the deal that will establish the largest casino company in the world and dominate the Las Vegas Strip with 11 properties.

Any such transaction would take months to complete. The deal must be reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission and gambling regulators in states in which the companies own casinos.

AP-ES-06-15-04 1900EDT