A $107m acquisition will see Colorado Springsbased Century Casinos expanding into Missouri and West Virginia.
Century Casinos has completed its purchase of the Isle Casino Cape Girardeau and Lady Luck Caruthersville in Missouri and the Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort in West Virginia from Eldorado Resorts for $107m.
“Over the last ten years, CNTY doubled the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation, and restructuring or rent costs (EBITDAR) in 2015 and will again in 2020, in our view,” said Macquarie analyst Chad Benyon.
“This is, in part, due to the $107m acquisition of three mature Eldorado Resorts properties.” As part of the deal, Colorado Springs-based Century sold the real estate for the three casinos to REIT VICI Properties for $278m and leased them back.
The lease has an initial annual rent of approximately $25m and an initial term of 15 years, with four five-year renewal options. Century financed the deal with a loan from Macquarie Capital that also refinanced its existing debt.
With this transaction now complete, Century’s portfolio has increased to 18 casinos worldwide that include over 7,185 gaming machines, 285 table games and 3,400 employees. Isle Casino Cape Girardeau, which opened in 2012, consists of a dockside casino with 41,500 sq ft of casino space, 851 gaming machines, 24 table games, three dining venues and an entertainment centre.
“This is a wonderful property, [it’s] very well designed, so it was love at first sight,” said Andreas Terler, SVP of operations at Century Casinos, adding that the company plans to retain the 350 employees currently working at the venue.
“We have no plans to change anything. It is a very successful property,” Terler added. “We’ll listen to management and we will work with management to see what may make sense going forward.”
The property’s MD Lyle Randolph said that ideas like building a hotel on the property or bringing back the buffet are not out of the question. “They’ll see signage change and eventually new layouts, new cards, new dice and then the new players club in the Spring,” Randolph said.
“When we go through that re-branding process we want to make sure we select names that really engage with the local customers and that are meaningful.”
“We’re really putting it all out there and talking about all of the potential uses for the various spaces inside the property. Looking at the land around us and what the opportunities are there,” “So it’s really exciting to be having those conversations and really to be part of those business decisions.”
Lady Luck Caruthersville opened in 1995 and features 21,000 sq ft of casino space, 513 slot machines, nine table games, two dining venues, a 40,000 sq ft pavilion and a 28-space RV park.
Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort is a hotel, casino, entertainment and live thoroughbred horse racing facility located in New Cumberland, West Virginia, one hour from downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The property originally opened in 1951 with the casino opening in 1994 and features a 357-room hotel, approximately 1,486 slot machines, 36 table games, a poker room, a racetrack and five dining venues.
