Las Vegas: Rio's new owners obtains suitability approval

The Nevada Gaming Commission has approved a preliminary discovering of suitability for Dreamscape Companies executives Eric Birnbaum and Thomas Ellis to function the hotel-casino their company purchased for $516.3 million just a little greater than a year in the past.

Rio’s comparatively new possession bought the inexperienced mild Thursday to ultimately maintain a gaming license, setting it up for full oversight of the property within the subsequent couple of years, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

The pair reaffirmed to commissioners their model imaginative and prescient for Rio once they ultimately take it over within the subsequent two years: "approachable luxury," a phrase they pitched to the Gaming Control Board earlier this month.

The self-described “real estate guys” haven’t beforehand operated a gaming property. Birnbaum advised regulators Thursday he has enlisted the assistance of gaming consultants together with The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas’ CEO Bill McBeath for consulting functions.

"I’d be lying if I told you that I am Mr. Gaming, and that I know everything and everything about gaming. I don’t," Birnbaum mentioned, "but, as a result, I’ve done the best that I can to hopefully surround myself with the best individuals in the business."

Dreamscape acquired Rio late 2019 in a settlement permitting Caesars Entertainment to handle the off-Strip property for 2 years at an annual lease of $45 million and an optionally available third year at $7 million. Caesars and Dreamscape have since prolonged the preliminary lease settlement an additional year due to COVID-19 pandemic issues, probably pushing again Dreamscape’s takeover as late as Dec. 15, 2023.

Birnbaum advised the management board earlier this month that when Dreamscape begins working the Rio, it might get “a monster refresh” and a re-examining of what meals and beverage facilities take advantage of sense for the two,500-suite hotel-casino that opened in 1990.

"I’m completely committed, passionate, and want to learn from the best and be a good citizen, and do right by the city and do right by everybody involved," Birnbaum mentioned Thursday.