California: Parkwest gets $210M loan for Bicycle Casino purchase, potential development plans

Gaming and hospitality operator Parkwest Casinos has been granted enough money to buy a casino and hotel in Bell Gardens, California, with sufficient leftover to plan even more ahead. 

According to property records filed with Los Angeles County, the Petaluma-based company scored a $210 million line of credit in connection with its purchase of the Bicycle Hotel and Casino last month.

Comerica Bank is listed as the trustee for the loan, acting on behalf of the other unnamed lenders. This will allow Parkwest to draw on funds for future development and costs.

Run by John Park, Parkwest Casinos bought the property for about $103 million in April. The company is planning to rename the casino Parkwest Bicycle Casino, according to documents filed with the California Gambling Control Commission, which approved the sale back in March. 

The property was sold by entities linked to Carter Management Group and Thousand Palms Enterprises. It has 185 poker and other card tables across a 100,000-square-foot poker room, and 99 hotel rooms. The sale took place after a years-long money-laundering investigation into the casino, which resulted in the property agreeing to pay $500,000 to settle federal violations last November. 

The Casino accepted responsibility for not reporting suspicious activity for a “high roller” Chinese national, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The player gambled at the casino about 100 times over an eight-month period in 2016, playing baccarat “with huge sums of cash”. On one occasion, the person withdrew $2 million from his account and played in a VIP room for almost 12 hours. 

Parkwest Casinos operates five casinos and cardrooms — in Livermore, Sacramento, Lodi, Rancho Cordova and Manteca. The Bicycle property is Parkwest’s first in Southern California and in Los Angeles.

In March, Parkwest Casino Cordova and Hollywood Park Casino filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court as their second legal attempt to prevent the only sports betting ballot initiative to qualify so far for November from going to the voters.