Caesars Crushes Rumours of Vegas Strip Casinos Being Sold

Earlier this month, Caesars Entertainment shared it’s first quarter results with the public. It should not come as a surprise, but the results were solid and executives have shared that Caesars venues are sold out for weekends for the foreseeable future. However, the CEO of Caesars of Entertainment, Tom Reeg, used this opportunity to clarify that none of the company’s Las Vegas properties will be up for sale this year, effectively crushing rumours to the contrary.

Caesar’s Sin City Properties

Caesars Entertainment, considered to be one of the biggest gaming companies to operate in the domestic sector, took to online news sources to post its EBITDA, for the first three months of 2021, of $505 million. Tom Reeg shared that the company expected the Flamingo operator to get very close to, or exceed, the EBITDA of $1 billion for one of this year’s quarters. However, Caesars has also shared that the company has no plans to sell off any of its Vegas properties and will not be adding to the list of casino venues that were recently sold, such as the Tropicana and the Palms Casinos.

Caesars CEO stated that the company remains convinced that selling off any of its properties right now would be illogical. Caesars will not be putting their properties on the market until they can be sure that they can sell it off for a reasonable price and still make a profit. Reeg concluded by saying that this suggests that properties will be sold in 2022, as a result of a sale and marketing exercise, after the close of licensing post.

The only assets that Caesars Entertainment confirmed will be up for sale is it’s William Hill betting shops and all sports wagering businesses and online casinos that operate in Europe. Caesars Chief Financial Offices, Bret Yunker, shared that the company has plans to reduce its current debt by about $2billion in this year. However, this can only be done if Caesars can sell off it’s William Hill assets at a conservative price while still making a profit. Caesars confirmed that it plans to announce an official buyer for the sports wagering asset in the second half of this financial year.

Rumour Mill

The rumours relating to Caesars selling off one or two of their Las Vegas properties is not a new one. In fact, these suspicions surfaced two years when Eldorado Resorts initially shared it’s plan to acquire Caesars. Eldorado shared that it was considering selling off one or two of Caesars existing Vegas casinos within 12 or 18 months of the transaction being finalized.
The acquisition closed in 2020, during the pandemic, which has led to the depression of values for gaming properties. Of the handful of gaming venues that were sold this year, only the Sands Expo and Convention Centre and The Venetian were sold at prices that resembled premium and were lucrative for the previous owners. However, this has not stopped the rumour mill. An anonymous source has stated that Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino and Paris Las Vegas could already be listed for sale.

Tom Reeg disagrees with these rumours and has stated that he has heard several of these rumours in the past and would like to clarify that there is currently no active discussion of the sale of any Las Vegas properties.

A Reasonable Assumption

While the rumours have been shut down by the CEO of Caesars, industry analysts have shared that they were believable because that highlighted two venues that Caesars could part with when the company decides to sell its assets. In 2019, when Eldorado Resorts began its acquisition of Caesars, the company signed an agreement with VICI properties that would allow it rights of first refusal for one of several properties. The ones included in the list were Planet Hollywood, Bally’s Las Vegas, Paris and Flamingo Las Vegas. If a deal should be reached for one of these venues than the LINQ Casino and Hotel would be added to the group of listed casinos for a second possible purchase if the buyer so wishes.

Rumours that Planet Hollywood was on auction surfaced in February this year but there has been no confirmation of this or any further information since.