Golden Entertainment Acquires Four Nevada Casinos Including Stratosphere

Golden Entertainment, the owner of Nevada’s popular PT’s Pubs tavern chain has acquired four casinos in the state including the iconic Stratosphere. The deal with American Casino & Entertainment Properties valued at $850 million is for two Arizona Charlie’s properties located in Las Vegas and the Aquarius resort in Laughlin apart from the Stratosphere.

Once the deal closes, Golden will be in control of over 15,800 slot machines and around 115 table games overall. In terms of hotel rooms, it will own 5,100 rooms spread across eight casino properties and around 1,000 distributed gaming facilities, including its tavern chain.

The deal is expected to close by the end of this year, pending all regulatory approvals.

Under the deal terms, Golden will pay cash of $781 million plus 4 million shares of Golden stock to Whitehall Street Real Estate Partners 2007, which is a Goldman Sachs managed real estate equity fund that owns American Casino & Entertainment. The deal will give Whitehall a 15 percent stake in Golden. Golden has received financing of $1.1 billion from several financial institutions including JPMorgan Chase Bank, Credit Suisse and Macquarie Capital.

Golden already owns three gaming operations – Gold Town in Pahrump, Pahrump Nugget in Lakeside and the Rocky Gap Casino Resort in Maryland. It also operates slot routes across Nevada and Montana which covers over 12,000 machines. In Southern Nevada, Golden is best known for its chain of pubs operated under six brands – PT’s Gold, PT’s Ranch, PT’s Brewing, Sierra Gold Sean, Patrick’s Pub & Grill and SG Bar.

Blake Sartini Chairman and CEO for Golden called the acquisition a perfect fit, pointing out that millennials are a major customer group for its pubs. The casino industry has made it a priority to attract millennials into their facilities.

In a statement Sartini said

This is a transformational event for our company, creating a significant gaming portfolio centered around Nevada-based casinos that, in addition to our Pahrump properties, will include two well-known Las Vegas locals casinos, a destination resort in Laughlin and the iconic Stratosphere property on the Las Vegas Strip.

Sartini has in particular expressed optimism about the growth potential of the Stratosphere, which has around 15 acres of free land available. The 2,427-room Stratosphere features a 1,149foot tower which is the tallest freestanding observation building of the United States.

The property comprises an 80,000-square- foot casino which has 42 table games, 743 slot machines apart from other amenities like 13 different restaurants, nine bars as well as two swimming pools.