LAS VEGAS (AP) - MGM Mirage Inc., the world's second-largest casino company, said Tuesday its third-quarter profit climbed 18% on revenue growth in non-casino operations and income from Hurricane Katrina insurance recoveries.

Earnings rose to $183.9 million, or 62 cents per share, compared with $156.3 million, or 54 cents per share, in the prior-year period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected net income of 50 cents per share.

The company received an additional $92 million of insurance recoveries related to Hurricane Katrina during the quarter.

Quarterly revenue rose 6 percent to $1.90 billion from $1.80 billion in the previous year. Consensus estimates put sales at $1.91 billion.

Shares fell $1.65, or 1.8 percent, to $91.27 in early trading Tuesday.

MGM said it experienced increased non-casino revenue from its restaurants, nightclubs and shows, while room rates remained strong.

Casino revenue rose 3 percent to $803.8 million, but was down 3%when excluding results from Beau Rivage, which the company opened in August last year in Mississippi.

Hotel revenue rose 7% to $510.8 million despite remodeling that took rooms off-line at the Bellagio and Mandalay
Bay properties in Las Vegas. Revenue per available room rose for
the 17th straight quarter in Las Vegas, to $143 from $135 in the
quarter.

Food and beverage revenue rose 10 percent to $406.6 million while entertainment revenue, driven by the company's Cirque du Soleil productions, rose 13 percent to $141.1 million.

MGM raised the budget for its Macau project to $1.25 billion from $1.1 million and boosted its CityCenter budget to $7.8 billion from $7.4 billion.

The company opened the $800 million MGM Grand Detroit on Oct. 2 and ntered into a 50-50 partnership on its CityCenter project with a subsidiary of Dubai World, to whom it sold $1.2 billion in shares.

The company also recently announced plans for an up-to-$5 billion MGM Grand Atlantic City to open in 2012, and signed an agreement with a Dubai World unit and Kerzner International Holdings Ltd. to develop another multibillion-dollar casino complex on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip also to open in 2012.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)