New York-based Delaware North has agreed to buy the Mardi Gras Casino and Resort in Nitro, West Virginia from Hartman and Tyner Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
The West Virginia Racing Commission and Lottery Commission must approve of the sale of the casino, resort and dog track, which has table games, slots, live greyhound racing and off-track betting. It also has a hotel with 150 rooms.
Delaware North owns the Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino in Wheeling, and various casinos and entertainment venues in six states.
In a press release Brian Hansberry, president of Delaware North, said “As a successful family-run company with a long history of operating exceptional gaming and entertainment venues, including in West Virginia, we’re excited about operating a second casino resort in the state and expanding our portfolio of gaming assets,” adding, “We look forward to working with Hartman & Tyner and their employees at Mardi Gras toward a smooth transition and in becoming part of the greater Charleston community.”
Hartman & Tyner said in its own release that it would concentrate on its real estate business in Michigan.
The Mardi Gras opened in 1985 as the Tri-State Greyhound Park. Hartman & Tyner purchased it five years later and added 57,000 square feet in 2002, converting it into a racino. In 2007 table games were added and in 2008 it became the Mardi Gras, the same brand as Hartman & Tyner’s other facilities.
Some public officials in Kanawha County were critical of the owners for not announcing that they planned to sell the facility and over the possible fate of the 700 employees given that voters had voted to allow the facility to add table games in 2007.
At that time the owners had promised to create a resort with a 250-room hotel and 6,500-seat entertainment venue. When they did open a hotel, it was much smaller. This created a movement for qualifying an initiative to repeal the table games. At that time the owners said if this happened they would close the racino—the initiative never materialized.
Table games revenues in all casinos in the state have declined in recent years as more competition has sprung up in neighboring states.
