Carl Ichan sells Tropicana Entertainment for $1.85 billion

Submitted by paula on Mon, 04/16/2018 - 8:06pm

The parent company of MontBleu Casino Resort on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe has been sold to Eldorado Resorts Inc. and real-estate company Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. for $1.85 billion.

Carl Ichan and his Tropicana Entertainment reached the definitive agreement to sell Tropicana’s real estate to Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. and to merge its gaming and hotel operations into Eldorado Resorts, Inc.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2018, subject to receipt of required gaming approvals and other closing conditions. The transaction is not subject to any financing condition as it is an all cash deal.

Eldorado Resorts was started in Reno in 1973 when Don Carano built a hotel and casino, the only one at the time on the north side of the railroad tracks. In 2014, the family company started expanding and owned seven properties in five states, and as of 2017 they owned 20 properties in 10 states.

Tropicana Entertainment has seven casinos and resorts in Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Missouri, and New Jersey. Their Aruba resort is not included in the sale.

The properties to be under ElDorado: Nevada - Tropicana Laughlin, Montbleu Resort; New Jersey - Tropicana Atlantic City and Tropicana Atlantic City Online Casino; Louisiana - Belle of Baton Rouge; Mississippi - Tropicana Greenville; Indiana - Tropicana Evansville; Missouri - Lumiere Place.

Tropicana once owned the Horizon where Hard Rock Lake Tahoe now stands.

- South Tahoe Now Staff report