On Friday, Twin River Worldwide Holdings (TRWH) that operates Rhode Island’s two casinos announced the purchase of three properties from the two counterparts – Eldorado Resorts and Caesars Entertainment Corp. The idea is to expand its casino footprints in three new states.
Twin River spent a combined $155 million to buy Eldorado Resort Casino Shreveport in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the Montbleu Resort, Casino & Spa in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Separately, the company also inked a deal with Caesars to buy Bally’s Atlantic City Hotel & Casino, New Jersey for $25 million.
The news about Twin River buying properties from Eldorado and Caesars comes out when the two gambling Nevada-based gambling companies are looking forward to finalizing their $17.3 billion merger. The the deal is still pending for approval from regulators in several states where the two companies operate properties, including Nevada and New Jersey’s competent regulatory bodies.
With the recent acquisition of the above-mentioned three casino properties, the Rhode Island based company – Twin River has entered three new states, namely Nevada, Louisiana and New Jersey.
TRWH CEO George Papanier said, “a unique opportunity to continue executing on our expansion and diversification strategy at attractive valuation multiples,” while chairman Soo Kim said, “This is a great deal for Twin River, and diversifies our business across eight states. It reaffirms our commitment to employers, customers and the communities in which we operate that Twin River will be stronger than ever.”
Twin River already had properties in Rhode Island, Colorado, Delaware, and Mississippi. The purchase of the three casinos expands its portfolio. However, it is subject to approval from the Federal Trade Commission and is said to be conditioned upon consummation of Caesars and Eldorado’s merger, which is expected to be completed sometime in the first half of the year.
The company is looking forward to close the acquisition of the two Eldorado properties in the first half of 2020 and the purchase of the Caesars-owned casino in second half of 2020 or early 2021.
Eldorado sold three casinos in West Virginia and Missouri in the summer of 2019 before dumping another one of its Louisiana casinos in January, 2020. Caesars too sold a property in Reno in January.