Caesars spinoff approved by NV regulator
Nevada Gaming Commission gives green light to establishment of Caesars Growth Partners
The Nevada Gaming Commission has given its approval to Caesars Entertainment’s plans to spin off its online and social gaming arm into a new company.
In addition to Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE), the new Caesars Growth Partners venture will incorporate the Planet Hollywood resort and a to-be-established Baltimore property.
Plans for the restructuring were first announced in April this year with another new company, known as Caesars Acquisition Company, established to look after the transition. Caesars set a share price of $9.43 for Caesars Growth Partners earlier this month.
The move will see Caesars receive a combined US$500m, rising to a potential $1.2bn, in investment from Apollo Management and TPG Capital. The two private equity firms will also be part-owners of the new entity, as the casino group looks to reduce its $20bn debt.
CIE holds an online poker operating licence in Nevada, and has launched a Nevada-facing play-money poker offering under the World Series of Poker (WSOP) brand ahead of a planned real-money rollout this year.
Social casino revenues from the division are among the strongest in the sector, and CIE has boosted its social presence in the last 12 months through the acquisition of Bingo Blitz operator Buffalo Studios as well as taking full ownership of Electronic Arts’ WSOP mobile and social games.
Its Slotomania app, incorporated following the 2012 acquisition of Playtika, is the fourth most popular social casino game on Facebook according to Dystillr with more than 3.2m monthly active users (MAU) in July.