Another property owned by Caesars Entertainment was shed last week when Bally’s Corp. completed the $140 million purchase of Eldorado Shreveport. The deal was agreed to last year last year when Caesars was being bought by Eldorado and the sale was a part of the licensing requirements in Louisiana. Caesars has sold two other properties in the state to satisfy these requirements: Belle of Baton Rouge to CQ Holding Co. (Illinois’ Casino Queen) , for an undisclosed price, and Harrah’s Louisiana Downs Casino and Racetrack in Bossier City to Rubico Acquisition Corp. for $22 million.
The Shreveport deal is linked with the sale of the MontBleu casino resort in Lake Tahoe. Nevada regulators have yet to approve that transaction. Eldorado originally made the deal with Maverick Gaming but when that deal fell apart due to the pandemic, Bally’s (then Twin River) stepped in to complete the deal.
Bally’s has also purchased the Tropicana Evansville in Indiana, another state that has required multiple property sales by Caesars as a condition of a license.
Eldorado Shreveport, which will not change the name to Bally’s, has 1,400 slot machines, 54 table games and a 400 room hotel.
“Eldorado Shreveport represents the latest step in our ongoing portfolio diversification strategy, expanding our rapidly growing geographic footprint into the attractive Shreveport/Bossier City market,” Bally’s CEO George Papanier said in a statement. “We are looking forward to integrating Eldorado Shreveport into the Bally’s family.”
The Shreveport purchase was one of the first made by Eldorado outside of its Reno, Nevada roots, a deal engineered by current Caesars CEO Tom Reeg.
“Since our acquisition of the property 15 years ago, our team members’ passion and commitment have driven our success in Shreveport,” said Reeg. “We wish all of them continued success under Bally’s ownership.”
