Penn National buying Caesars/Harrah's casino?

Just came across this news item over at the Las Vegas Advisor site:

Quote: LVA news

• May 8, 2012 10:11 PA Casino to Change Hands: Penn National Gaming has announced a deal to buy Harrah's Maryland Heights Casino from Caesars Entertainment for $610 million. The casino, which opened on the Missouri River in 1997, is the region's second-busiest by revenue.

I'm confused. I can't figure out out what casino they are talking about. It seems to say it is a Pennsylvania casino on the Missouri River. And the name seems to be "Maryland Heights Casino".

I can't find anything on the Caesars web site that sounds like this place. Can someone tell me what casino they are talking about?

Quote: Doc

Just came across this news item over at the Las Vegas Advisor site:

Quote: LVA news

• May 8, 2012 10:11 PA Casino to Change Hands: Penn National Gaming has announced a deal to buy Harrah's Maryland Heights Casino from Caesars Entertainment for $610 million. The casino, which opened on the Missouri River in 1997, is the region's second-busiest by revenue.

I'm confused. I can't figure out out what casino they are talking about. It seems to say it is a Pennsylvania casino on the Missouri River. And the name seems to be "Maryland Heights Casino".

I can't find anything on the Caesars web site that sounds like this place. Can someone tell me what casino they are talking about?

Harrah's Saint Louis is in Maryland Heights, MO. That's a big blow to CZR if they're selling a property at that level of quality (it's a nice place...)

Quote: rdw4potus

Harrah's Saint Louis is in Maryland Heights, MO. That's a big blow to CZR if they're selling a property at that level of quality (it's a nice place...)

Well, that part make sense. Why would they have this headlined, "PA Casino to Change Hands"?

perhaps there was some confusion becasue Harrah's only PA casino is changing names on May 12.
Harrah's Chester to become Harrah's Philadelphia

The confusing headline probably stems from Penn being a common abbreviation for PA.

Here's the LV Review Journal article.

The question is - Why are they selling something that is profitable?

Thanks, all. It seems that my confusion was due to (1) I didn't know that St. Louis had a Maryland Heights, (2) the Casino name was given incorrectly in the article, and (3) somebody at LVA (who was probably as ill-informed as I am) saw "Penn National" and apparently thought the casino must be in PA (or it was a typo/mental glitch).

It's nice that Penn National has such deep pockets. They bought Bullwhackers about 10 years ago as well as the Silver Hawk, which is on the back of their parking lot. Immediately they removed all table games, including the poker tables that had the highest drop in Colorado at the time. A few years later that bought out Bronco Billy's next door and renamed it the Bullpen with access thru Bullwhackers.
They brought Bj back a time or two, but it is gone again. So is Elanors, which was a popular restaurant. It has been replaced by a chain Mexican restaurant Santiago's . But during the week before 6pm on Friday, your only choice is Santiago Express. I imagine it is where the in-house bakery used to be SIGH.

Bullwhackers is now down to 570 slots from almost 1200. Bullpen is gone, upstairs is empty, 1st floor rented to an almost carnival like casino, of sorts. See Teddy's review. The Silver Hawk is now sitting empty as a reminder that the days of " Open the doors and let the suckers in " are long gone in Colorado.

PNG has a lot of cash on hand and is in the market to buy properties cheap if they can get them. The bought the M cheap and looked at TI and Rio before. As for CZR, I think the chance to sell a property and put a small dent in their debt is becoming more important since they went public. Of course the 610M is only the interest for a year or less on their 20 Billion dollar debt.

Look for more of this in the future as rumors are rampent in AC that they are working with Hard Rock on a deal for Bally's and are still trying to sell Showboat. The AC problem is that you could buy Trump Plaza for around 50 Million or less if you wanted to get into the market. AC isnt exactly a growth market for gaming.

The St. Louis Harrahs property is interesting. I like the hotel. The casino is quite large, but configured in an odd, maze-like fashion.

Penn now has a strong presence in the K.C. metro market with two properties (after just opening the KS side Hollywood property at the NASCAR track venue). They will match that with their two St. Louis area properties after this sale closes.

At the K.C. Argosy property that Penn operates, they have a strong crew of table-games veterans who handle their dealing duties in a cordially professional manner. It's a rather pleasant place to gamble, especially Mon - Fri. when the vets are working.

Quote: FinsRule

The question is - Why are they selling something that is profitable?

(I HATE MY COMPUTER!! I HAD A TOTAL ANSWER TYPED OUT, AND IT WENT BACK!!! $#%#%@)

Okay, let's start this again. I'm not surprised that they are selling Harrah's St Louis, but I am surprised on two accounts: 1) It's to Penn National, who already has a sliver of a presence in the market with a terrible Argosy property in Alton; and 2) That Caesars didn't package the property with another struggling property, including Harrah's NKC, Council Bluffs, or Metropolis. Obviously, the strong presence in Kansas City Metro for Penn makes NKC out of the question, but I would think Council Bluffs could be a coup, and Caesars would still have Horseshoe, although they would lose the hotel and some unused convention space.

Luckily for Penn, Harrah's St Louis will be a relatively easy convert to Hollywood. Most of the restaurants are no longer "Harrah's" trademarks (minus Voodoo lounge and Cafe Aroma). They just did a bunch of remodels, so it's kind of funny that they will be changing it (presumably) once again to get the "Hollywood" look.

The competition in St Louis is stiff though, as Ameristar is across the way in St Charles and Pinnacle has the two nicest properties in the area. As long as the service doesn't deteriorate, then it should be a win. However, Penn screws up service like Caesars screws up comps, so don't hold your breath.

Quote: midwestgb

At the K.C. Argosy property that Penn operates, they have a strong crew of table-games veterans who handle their dealing duties in a cordially professional manner. It's a rather pleasant place to gamble, especially Mon - Fri. when the vets are working.

I agree. Argosy seemed far too nice service and atmosphere-wise for a Penn property. Must be a holdover from the Argosy days. I guess they can't screw up an acquisition as well as they can their homegrown properties.

Yep. The folks I like best there at Argosy KC are indeed holdovers from the original property. The weekday crew members get along with one another and treat their players very well. Fortunately, Penn sent a group of their Argosy KC supervisory folks over to open up the Hollywood property across the state line in KC Kansas and they are fostering a similar atmosphere of friendly professionalism over there as well.

Quote: midwestgb

Yep. The folks I like best there ar Argosy KC are indeed holdovers from the original property. The weekday crew members get along with one another and treat their players very well. Fortunately, Penn sent a group of their Argosy KC supervisory folks over to open up the Hollywood property across the state line in KC Kansas and they are fostering a similar atmosphere of friendly professionalism over there as well.

That's good to hear. I was their second-tier card for a while, and I didn't play there a ton, though I did like their double deck game. The poker room was way too small, but they closed it, so I guess that solved that. I don't think the dealers were that great, but they were better than Ameristar dealers.

However, the BEST thing about Argosy (other than the hotel) is the grilled cheese sandwich at the cafe on the boat. If you have not had it, it's AMAZING!!!