This week’s casino news kicks off in Massachusetts where we finally have a timeline for the highly anticipated MGM Springfield. After that, we’ll head to Indiana and Macau to wrap up this week’s casino headlines.
MGM Springfield Less Than A Year Away
MGM continues to bring its Las Vegas-like brand of hotels to the rest of the country and the next big opening will be in Springfield, Massachusetts. This week, the company finally revealed that the opening of the $960-million project is less than a year away. There is great anticipation here as this essentially places a big-time casino in the city of Boston, so this is expected to have a huge impact. Not only will it be an important outlet for entertainment but 3,000 jobs are expected to be created.
Along with the update, we got our first look with pictures (just external pictures so far, nothing from the inside). It’s hard to gauge too much from photos as news cameras are not allowed inside just yet. However, we did get a peek at the vast magnitude of this project, which will be one of the most exciting openings of 2018.
Caesars Entertainment Acquires Centaur Gaming
Centaur Gaming LLC, well known in Indiana for its casinos Hoosier Park and the Indiana Grand, is in the process of being acquired by Caesars Entertainment. News broke that Caesars is set to buy Centaur’s two casinos for about $1.7 billion. The deal says that Caesars will pay $1.63 billion up front with another $75 million in deferred payments.
These casinos have racetrack operations as well and have combined to bring in over $480 million in gross gaming revenue over the last year. Caesars already has a foothold in Indiana with two riverboat casinos: the Horseshoe Southern Indiana and the Horseshoe Hammond. Now it will have a much stronger presence in the state.
Reuters had reported last May that Centaur was exploring a sale but we didn’t hear who was looking to acquire it. Centaur has more than 6.5 million guests per year on its properties and has signed up 1.1 million as part of a loyalty program. Caesars will be hoping to grow those numbers but even if they remain steady, it is clearly acquiring a very successful business.
Dragon Corp. Heading For ICO?
Dragon Corp., a company based out of Macau, is aiming to get $500 million in an ICO (initial coin offering) for a floating casino. Often times, ICOs are viewed as expensive kick-starters and are not tied to tangible assets, like a sustainable business or assets. However, Dragon Corp. is looking to raise so much because it does in fact have the hotel/casino as well as a business that’s bringing in money.
How it will work is that those who invest in the company won’t actually get any equity in the casino, just cryptocurrency coins that they can use at the casino when it is actually built.
This is a bold move for Dragon Corp., as Macau has yet to actually authorize the use of Bitcoin services and China has banned ICOs because it feels that they are risky. However, Dragon Corp. suggests that it has already raised $265 million, so it’s clear that the company is finding plenty of backers who will help it build its business.