Pennsylvania Regulators Approve Eldorado Acquisition Of Caesars

• Eldorado Resorts is undergoing a $17.3 billion takeover of Caesars Entertainment.
• The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approved the acquisition.
• The takeover will give Eldorado Resorts access to states with legal sports betting.

HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) approved Eldorado Resorts acquiring Caesars Entertainment Pennsylvania properties this week.

In June of 2019, news broke out that Eldorado Resorts was acquiring all of Caesars properties. The takeover is estimated to be worth around $17.3 billion.

“The combined company will provide its guests with access to approximately 60 domestic casino–resorts and gaming facilities across 16 states,” stated The Eldorado press release.

Due to the nature of the takeover, each state with Caesars properties must approve of the acquisition. The reason for that is to operate casinos or sportsbooks, licenses must be awarded first. A new owner of a casino would require gaming entities all over the country to approve of the acquisition.

A Sports Betting Foothold

One of the reasons for Eldorado to takeover Caesars is the recent surge of legal sports betting. Caesars has a foothold in many different states that has sports betting available.

After acquiring Caesars, Eldorado will be the largest gaming company in terms of the number of properties. Acquiring Caesars will allow Eldorado easier access into these states with sports betting. This is largely thanks to the fact that Caesars already has many properties with sportsbooks.

One such example is Harrah’s Philadelphia. This casino is owned and operated by Caesars. Harrah’s Philadelphia currently has a sportsbook that they are operating. Now that Eldorado gained approval from the PGCB to acquire Caesars, Harrah’s sportsbook will belong to Eldorado.

The takeover is not completely done in Pennsylvania. It will take a while longer before Eldorado will be the one running Caesars operations. Either way, not much is expected to change at Harrah’s or other Caesars properties. All of Caesars’ properties will function under the same name.

Now that Eldorado has approval from the PGCB to move forward, they will go to other states for a similar approval. New Jersey is one of the states that needs further approval for the acquisition to take place. So does Indiana and Mississippi and a few other states.

News tags: Caesars Entertainment | Eldorado Resorts | Harrah’s Philadelphia | Indiana | Mississippi | New Jersey | Pennsylvania