Caesars Sale Of Bally’s AC To Twin River Brings New Blood To The Boardwalk
Atlantic City has always been one of the most tumultuous gaming markets in the country. Sales, bankruptcies, and takeovers have seen just about every gaming entity in the country plant a flag in the second oldest casino market in the US at some point in time. And now it’s Twin River Worldwide Holdings’ turn.
According to a press release, Twin River has agreed to purchase Bally’s Atlantic City from Caesars Entertainment and REIT VICI Properties for $25 million.
In separate deals, Twin River acquired two Louisiana casinos from Eldorado’s inventory: Eldorado Shreveport in Louisiana and the Mont Bleu Resort Casino in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. The deal with Twin River voids a previous agreement to sell those properties to Maverick Gaming.
“These acquisitions represent a unique opportunity to continue executing on our expansion and diversification strategy at attractive valuation multiples,” Twin River CEO George Papanier said in a press release announcing the deal. “We see significant opportunities to create cross-marketing connections for customers at multiple Twin River locations, and we look forward to applying our proven operating and integration approach to drive incremental revenues and cash flows.”
The Current List of AC Casino Operators
Atlantic City has nine operational casinos (all nine are currently shuttered due to Coronavirus). However, more than half of the nine AC casinos are owned by soon to be merged Caesars/Eldorado.
- Bally’s AC – Caesars Entertainment/Eldorado
- Caesars – Caesars Entertainment/Eldorado
- Harrah’s AC – Caesars Entertainment/Eldorado
- Tropicana – Caesars Entertainment/Eldorado
- Borgata
- Golden Nugget
- Hard Rock AC
- Ocean
- Resorts
So, even with nine casinos, should the Eldorado-Caesars merger go through, there are only five casino operators in Atlantic City. That didn’t sit well with regulators, and a sale of at least one of the casino properties was expected.
The sale of Bally’s AC to Twin River solves that problem.
Twin River Is in a Buying Mood
Twin River currently owns or operates eight casinos spread across four states.
- Twin River (Rhode Island)
- Twin River Tiverton (Rhode Island)
- Arapahoe Park (Colorado)
- Golden Gates Casino (Colorado)
- Golden Gulch Casino (Colorado)
- Mardi Gras Casino (Colorado)
- Dover Downs Hotel & Casino (Delaware)
- Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi (Mississippi)
That said, the company has been on a buying spree since completing a reverse merger with Dover Downs in March 2019.
In addition to the recently announced purchases of the three Caesars-Eldorado casinos, Twin River purchased:
- Isle of Capri Casino Kansas City and Lady Luck Casino Vicksburg from Eldorado in July 2019 (the sale has not been finalized)
- three of its four Colorado casinos (the Golden Gates, Golden Gulch, and Mardi Gras) in January 2020.
When the Eldorado-Caesars’ sales are finalized, Twin River will own or operate 13 casinos in eight states. That makes it an attractive partner for sportsbook and online gambling operators looking to expand their presence or gain a foothold in the US.
Another New Jersey Online Gambling Operator?
A large part of successfully operating an Atlantic City casino is online gambling.
Atlantic City casinos rely heavily on online gambling to pad their bottom line. If Twin River expects to compete with Bally’s AC (which will hopefully receive a rebrand and renovation), it will need to embrace online gambling and sports betting in New Jersey.
Despite its location on the Boardwalk, Bally’s AC isn’t a top tier property by any stretch of the imagination, and that makes online gambling and sports betting top priorities for the property’s success.
Twin River has some experience with online casino through Dover Downs in Delaware and online sports betting at its Rhode Island properties.
So, with whom might Twin River partner in New Jersey? The likely answer is DraftKings since that’s Twin River’s sports betting partner in Colorado. Not to mention, DraftKings has proven to be a solid partner on both the sports betting and online casino side in New Jersey.
Twin River’s online partnerships in Rhode Island (IGT) and Delaware (888) are determined by contracts run through the state lottery without any input from operators.
Steve Ruddock is the content director for BettingUSA and the Editor-in-Chief of Gaming Law Review.
Steve has covered the legal and legislative developments in the US gambling sector for more than a decade for online and print publications.
