Eldorado to sell Nevada's Montbleu Resort Casino & Spa to Maverick

Eldorado Resorts has agreed to sell its Montbleu Resort Casino and Spa in Lake Tahoe as its proposed merger with Caesars Entertainment continues to clear regulatory hurdles.

The company announced Tuesday that the Nevada property would be sold to Maverick Gaming, pending approval. The terms of the sale were not disclosed. The agreement is expected to be completed in the second half of 2020.

Tom Reeg, CEO of Eldorado Resorts, said the sale of Montbleu "is consistent with our continued focus on the expected closing for the Caesars transaction in the first half of 2020," KSNV reports.

"With this acquisition, we will increase our position in Northern Nevada to five casinos with inventory nearing 1600 hotel rooms, and over 2100 slot machines,” said Eric Persson, majority owner of Maverick Gaming. “We see great opportunity in Northern Nevada and the Reno Tahoe market, and are actively seeking more distribution there.”

Eldorado became the owner of Montbleu when it acquired Tropicana Entertainment in 2018. The property includes over 400 hotel rooms, nearly 600 slot machines, 30 table games, with a 1200 seat showroom and four restaurants. Maverick previously purchased Eldorado Resort and Casino in Shreveport, Louisiana from the Reno-based gaming company back in January for $230 million.

Eldorado described the sale as a way to reduce debt ahead of the merger with Las Vegas-based Caesars.

State regulators continue to give the go-ahead for the $17.3 billion deal. Eldorado announced last month that it secured approval from Maryland's gaming control agency, the 7th of 17 states. The gaming company owns and operates 23 gaming properties in 11 states, including Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Mississippi and New Jersey.