Gaming industry news that might matter to the Caesars Buyout
Last week I was in Biloxi/Gulfport on a belated birthday trip and seeing how the other side (MGM Beau Rivage) lives. I had to visit the Harrah's Gulf Coast casino to actually use the Caesars Sportsbook App because Mississippi has some strange rules that only allow you to use Sportsbook Apps in the physical casino of that gambling company and only in the Biloxi area. But that is a story for another day.
While I was in Biloxi some gambling industry news came out on Monday and Wednesday of that week, that might have future significance for Caesars Entertainment and the Tillman Fertitta buyout.
The news that came out is that Ilitch Gaming, which is a newly formed unit of Ilitch Companies, on Monday announced they were going to purchase the 50% of the Ocean Casino in Atlantic City that they don't already own. Then on Wednesday they announced they are purchasing the Scarlet Pearl Casino in Biloxi (technically D'Iberville, MS). Ilitch Gaming already owns the MotorCity Casino in Detroit. The parent company Ilitch Companies also owns the Little Caesars Pizza brand, the Detroit Tigers MLB team and Olympia Development.
Why this gaming industry announcement may matter is because there is a high likelihood that if the Tillman Fertitta buyout of Caesars goes through, because of regulatory ownership restrictions in some states where Caesars has properties, along with Golden Nugget Casinos, Tillman Fertitta may be forced to divest some Caesars or Golden Nugget casino properties. Since Ilitch Gaming is expanding and buying casinos, they could potentially be a buyer of any casinos that Caesars or Golden Nugget may need to divest and sell off.
And on a slightly different matter, if I was an independent casino host or owner of a travel company that arranges charters to casinos, I would be contacting Ilitch Gaming and seeing how I could partner with this growing gaming industry company.