From one industry competitor to another, Tropicana Entertainment has officially announced that it has completed a deal with Pinnacle Entertainment to acquire a handful of the latter’s properties, including the Lumière Place Casino in St. Louis, Missouri in exchange for a pretty sum of $260 million.
As part of the deal, Tropicana takes control of the casino, as well as HoteLumière, and the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis. The acquisition also marks yet another establishment to fall under the Tropicana brand. Now that Lumière is under its name, the company’s casino portfolio now includes nine casino properties to add to the eight it already has in numerous states, including New Jersey, Nevada, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Indiana.
“We are incredibly excited to add this magnificent St. Louis property to Tropicana’s portfolio.” Tony Rodio, the Tropicana’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement.
“We are very much looking forward to becoming part of the St. Louis business community and working with the city and state as we operate Lumière into the future. We would like to thank Mayor Slay for his support in welcoming Tropicana to St. Louis and the Missouri Gaming Commission for its expedited review of our gaming applications.”
The timing of the sale also comes at the same time that the state of Missouri is in the process of passing legislation that would repeal the 1992 prohibition on casinos being allowed to offer credit to its customers. Like what was already mentioned by Peter Amsel, the legislation would allow casinos to offer a line of credit to any customer that can afford to drop an advance of $10,000 as an apparent gesture of their wealth.
Now that it has the Lumière, Tropicana Entertainment be allowed to take this route with its high-rollers, a pretty important enticer to draw even more of the deep-pocketed kind to play in its casinos.
