Premier Gaming Group of Union, Kentucky, founded by Kevin Preston, recently partnered with EB-5 investment group to form Casino Holding Investment Partners LLC, which has purchased the 141-room Isle of Capri Hotel in Natchez, Mississippi for .5 million. St. Louis-based Isle of Capri Casinos announced the hotel casino will cease operations October 11, and the transaction is expected to close in October 2015, subject to customary closing conditions. Preston said the company plans to invest another .5 million to remodel the hotel and hopes to have the lobby and select floors open by the end of the year.
Premier Gaming Group owns Magnolia Bluffs Casino in Natchez. Preston said he and Isle of Capri Casinos entered into negotiations last year, after Isle of Capri determined that since Magnolia Bluffs Casino opened in late 2012, Isle of Capri’s gaming revenues dropped, even though overall company revenue rose 5 percent in 2015. The Natchez casino, with 520 slots and six table games, generated $23 million in revenue in fiscal 2015.
Virginia McDowell, the Isle of Capri’s president and chief executive officer, said, “We are proud of all that we have accomplished together and we thank our team members for their dedication and hard work in the many years we have operated in Natchez.”
Isle Natchez officials said it is expected to remain fully operational until it closes, and will honor all room reservations and events until that time.
Previously Preston was chief operating officer at Tropicana Gaming, the casino subsidiary of Columbia Sussex, which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2009. At that point Preston formed Premier Gaming Group. Although the company soon will own two properties in Natchez, Preston has expansion plans. “The growth plan is really either through acquisitions or new development getting to where we have four or five casinos,” he said. Preston said he’s reviewing several projects in Mississippi and others in Iowa, and hopes to add another casino by the end of 2016.
