Century Casinos, Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of the operations of Rocky Gap Casino Resort from Golden Entertainment Inc. for approximately $56.1 million.
Simultaneous with the closing of the transaction, an affiliate of the real-estate investment trust VICI Properties Inc. acquired a related interest in the land and building associated with Rocky Gap for approximately $203.9 million, and Century amended its triple-net master lease agreement with VICI to add the Rocky Gap property. The amendment to the master lease agreement includes an increase in initial annualized rent of approximately $15.5 million.
Empire financed the acquisition with $30 million borrowed from the revolving facility of its existing credit agreement with Goldman Sachs USA and cash from the balance sheet.
“We are very excited to be expanding into Maryland,” Erwin Haitzmann and Peter Hoetzinger, co-chief executive officers of Century Casinos, said in a statement. “Rocky Gap is a great addition to our portfolio. We look forward to working with the staff and community to continue the current success at this property into the future.”
Rocky Gap is located in Flintstone, Maryland in Rocky Gap State Park, which attracts over half a million visitors annually. The full-service resort sits on approximately 270 acres and includes an 18-hole golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus, a 5,000 square-foot events center, several meeting spaces, a spa, and several outdoor activities.
The property consists of over 25,000 square feet of gaming floor, 630 slot machines, 16 table games, 198 hotel rooms and five food and beverage venues.
The property has recently invested approximately $10 million in improvements to its hotel, slot machines, restaurants, and sports lounge. There is potential to further expand the casino and hotel and capture more customers from adjacent markets.
With this transaction, Century’s portfolio increased to 19 casinos world-wide that include 7,565 gaming machines, 268 table games and over 4,100 full-time equivalent employees.
After selling the Maryland property, Golden Entertainment owns eight casinos in southern Nevada and 65 gaming taverns in Nevada. Through its distributed gaming operations in Nevada and Montana, Golden Entertainment operates video gaming devices at nearly 1,000 locations.
