Boyd Gaming last week announced the purchase of the Aliante casino hotel in North Las Vegas. The property was built by Boyd rival Station Casinos (along with partners the Greenspun Group) in 2008 for 2 million. Boyd paid 0 million for the property.
Aliante opened during the great recession and immediately ran into financial trouble as the 21,000 planned homes for the community were delayed. The property defaulted on its loans and it was turned over to creditors in 2012 that were owned more than $350 million.
The 202-room hotel has 1,800 slot machines, 36 table games and a movie complex.
“Aliante is an asset without rival in the North Las Vegas market, strategically positioned to benefit from substantial future growth across the northern part of the Las Vegas Valley,” said Boyd President and CEO Keith Smith in a statement.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Cannery Resorts will sell two properties it owns in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas to Boyd Gaming. A Boyd spokesman refused to confirm that to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
“We’ve said many times that we are looking for ways to grow, and we look at many potential opportunities,” spokesman David Strow said. “But we don’t comment on speculation about what we may or may not be interested in acquiring.”
But the Reuters report would make sense. Boyd’s biggest competitor in the Boulder Highway and North Las Vegas market is Cannery. The Boulder Highway Cannery is located immediately adjacent to Boyd’s Sam’s Town, and the North Las Vegas Cannery gives Boyd an entry into that market.
Cannery Resorts is owned by casino operator Millennium Gaming Inc., and was founded by casino executives Bill Paulos and Bill Wortman. Millennium is a subsidiary of investment firm Oaktree Capital Management and Australian gaming company Crown Resorts Ltd.
Millennium’s recent sale of the Meadows racetrack and casino just outside of Pittsburgh reportedly cleared up the Cannery balance sheet, spurring Boyd’s interest in the sale, according to Reuters.
In addition to Sam’s Town, Boyd’s Nevada properties include Suncoast, Gold Coast and Orleans in greater Las Vegas, the Eldorado and Joker’s Wild Casino in Henderson, and Main Street Station, Fremont and California hotels and casinos in downtown Las Vegas.
Boyd has several regional casinos and is also the joint venture operating partner with MGM Resorts on the Borgata in Atlantic City.
Meanwhile, Bridger Management bought 258,740 shares of Boyd Gaming during the fourth quarter, it recently disclosed to the SEC.
The move roughly doubles Bridger’s holdings in Boyd Gaming, which are valued at $10.2 million and represent less than 1 percent of Bridger’s portfolio.
Boyd Gaming reported $542.7 million in revenue during the final quarter of 2015, up more than 2 percent from $541.25 million a year earlier.
Boyd Gaming owns several prominent Las Vegas properties, and is in the process of upgrading its dining options its popular Orleans on west Tropicana Avenue.
A popular casino for Las Vegas locals as well as visitors drawn to its proximity to the Las Vegas Strip, Boyd Gaming is in the process of a $30 million improvement to Orleans. That includes improving its food fare, which now includes an Alder & Birch steakhouse, and the Ondori Asian Kitchen, where Japanese and Chinese delicacies are served. Both of those restaurants opened in February, and are among five new ones planned for The Orleans, with three remaining to open.
Boyd Gaming also is undertaking an upgrade of the property’s 1,800 hotel rooms, which it expects to finish in time for the annual New Year’s Eve festivities.
