The North Carolina-based Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians recently announced its new leadership group, EBCI Holdings LLC, will be the owners of Caesars Southern Indiana in Elizabeth. R. Scott Barber, former regional president of Caesars Entertainment, has been named chief executive officer and Adele Jacobs-Madden, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, will serve as chief financial officer. EBCI agreed to purchase the casino’s operations from Caesars for $250 million in late December 2020. The group anticipates the Indiana Gaming Commission will approve the new ownership this fall.
Barber stated, “Caesars Southern Indiana is a beautiful facility with a well-established brand and a superb team of hundreds of local employees already in place. We want to keep the same friendly, fun, familiar environment for our guests. Our intent is to build on the facility’s success and offer guests additional opportunities to play at EBCI’s Harrah’s-branded North Carolina properties while also having access to all properties throughout the Caesars Rewards network.” The casino employs about 700 people.
Eastern Band officials said EBCI Holdings was created to diversify its holdings in the commercial gaming and hospitality industries. Caesars Southern Indiana will be the tribe’s first casino outside North Carolina. “We are pleased with EBCI’s initial acquisition and the possibility of growing our reach into other markets. We are looking forward to entering the well-established southern Indiana/Louisville market and to attracting guests from around the region to our world-class resort in Southern Indiana,” Barber said.
EBCI also named five board members, all with extensive gaming experience:
- Tom Jenkin, director and chairman, former global president of Caesars;
- Ray Rose, director and vice chairman, former regional VP of resort operations at Harrah’s Cherokee and former Tribal Casino Gaming Enterprise Board of Advisors chairman;
- Cory Blankenship, director, chair of Finance & Strategy Committees, secretary of treasury of EBCI;
- Susan Carletta, director, chair of Audit & Compliance Committees, former SVP, deputy general counsel and chief regulatory & compliance officer of Caesars; and
- David Satz, director, chair of HR/Nominating/Compensation Committees, former SVP of government relations and development at Caesars.
Along with Madden, two board members—Rose and Blankenship—are members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The other members are independent directors.
In late 2019, the casino moved from a riverboat to a new $85 million land-based facility with 100,000 square feet of gambling space. It was acquired through Caesars Entertainment’s merger with Eldorado Resorts Inc. Following the merger, the IGC ordered Caesars to sell three of its five casinos in the state; Caesars casinos in Elizabeth, Evansville and Hammond were sold.
Last December, Caesars officials announced an agreement to sell the casino to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for $250 million. EBCI said it will retain Caesars’ branding and the Caesars loyalty program at the casino.
In North Carolina, ECBI operates Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino & Hotel in Murphy.
