Caesars entertainment completes $1.7 buy of two Indiana racinos

Caesars leisure now owns two Indiana racetrack casinos after completing its $1.7 billion purchase of Centaur Holdings on Monday.

Caesars is acquiring Hoosier Park Racing and casino in Anderson and Indiana Grand Racing and casino in Shelbyville. The two racinos serve the Indianapolis market and areas in imperative Indiana.

The Las Vegas based online casino big operates houses within the state, together with two dockside riverboat casinos Horseshoe casino Hammond, determined 20 miles from downtown Chicago, and Horseshoe Southern Indiana, near the border with Louisville, Ky.

Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand offer live and simulcast horse racing, dining shops, entertainment, and casinos with about 2,000 slot machines and digital desk games. Caesars plans so as to add live table games to the casinos, discipline to Indiana gaming approval.

Caesars enjoyment is investing $50 million into a lot of property improvements, including its complete Rewards player loyalty program to the casinos.

“The Centaur acquisition expands our footprint to the attractive principal Indiana region with interesting new locations which are profitable, neatly capitalized and enormously complementary to our latest portfolio,” Caesars CEO Mark Frissora stated in a press release. “This challenge is an important part of our boom strategy.”

All the way through the licensing hearing closing month, the Indiana Gaming commission fined the business $1 million to settle allegations that it violated the general public trust and self-belief in the integrity of the state’s casino trade.

Caesars tried to keep away from paying a $50 million transfer payment required as part of the acquisition. The company threatened to cancel a planned $9 million challenge to flow Horseshoe Southern Indiana onto land unless the commission agreed to cancel the $50 switch payment for Hoosier Park.

Shares of Caesars had been up 15 cents or 1.30 p.c to shut at $11.65 on the NASDAQ.

Howard Stutz is the government editor of CDC Gaming experiences. He can also be reached  at cdcgamingreports.com