Owner sells two Black Hawk casinos in $1.7 billion deal

RENO, Nev. — Eldorado Resorts has agreed to buy Missouri-based Isle of Capri Casinos for $1.7 billion in combined stocks and cash, a move that will add 13 casino-resorts to the Reno-based company’s portfolio.

The deal announced Monday includes $929 million of long-term debt held by Isle of Capri Casinos. The company based in the St. Louis area operates 14 casino properties in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Pennsylvania.

Eldorado Resorts chairman and CEO Gary Carano told the Reno-Gazette Journal  the deal will help spread his company’s risk across 20 casinos in 10 different states.

“In in our business, like in any business, you like to be in as much control as you can of your risk factors,” Carano said. “It’s truly a transformational deal for us.”

Eldorado’s expanded property portfolio will include about 20,800 slot machines and video lottery terminals, more than 560 table games and 6,500 hotel rooms. The company said in a news release it received the $2.1 billion in financing from J.P. Morgan.

“We’re acquiring a great company, one that was founded by the Goldstein family,” Carano said. ‘They built the first riverboat casino in America.”

Isle of Capri Casinos will move its headquarters from Creve Coeur, Mo., to Reno as part of the transaction unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

The purchase is subject to approval by stockholders and gambling regulators in both states. It’s expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2017.

Bernie Goldstein, who died in 2009, opened the first riverboat casino in Bettendorf, Iowa, in 1991 and founded what became Isle of Capri when he opened a riverboat casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1992. His family members remain on the board of directors at Isle of Capri, which owns or operates casino properties primarily under the Isle and Lady Luck brands. The company’s holdings include the Isle of Capri Casino and Hotel and the Lady Luck Casino in Black Hawk.

Eldorado, founded in 1973 in Reno, owns the Eldorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus hotel-casinos in Reno, as well as properties in Louisiana, West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Reported by:  Denverpost.com