Bally’s Completes Purchase of MontBleu Casino in Nevada

Bally's Corp. has made another move in the gambling market, adding to its already expansive portfolio by buying the MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa in Nevada from Caesars Entertainment.

The deal is part of Caesars’ effort to divest in some properties as part of its merger with Eldorado, a deal that was completed in 2020.

The sale of the casino in Stateline, Nevada, in the Lake Tahoe area, was announced on Wednesday and was a $55 million transaction, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The newspaper’s report indicated that Bally’s owns and manages 12 casinos but that the company plans to expand its property portfolio to at least 15 casinos in the near future.

The MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa has table games including Craps, Roulette, 3-Card Poker and Blackjack, plus more than 400 slot machines in a 45,000-square-foot gaming area.

“MontBleu is a premier entertainment asset that is commensurate with the iconic Bally's brand, and advances our ongoing portfolio diversification strategy,” Bally’s President and CEO George Papanier said in a news release. “With the close of this transaction, we look forward to integrating the property into the Bally's family, and utilizing it as an attractive destination for our loyal Bally's customers to drive visitation to Lake Tahoe."

The move comes at what should be a good time for Nevada’s casinos, one of the state’s most crucial economic drivers, after the industry suffered acutely during the 2020 shutdowns brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Nevada casinos were recently allowed to increase capacity limits to 50%, just in time for the NCAA Basketball Tournament. And with COVID-19 vaccination rates increasing, casinos will surely be opening their doors to a stream of pent-up demand in the coming months.

Busy Time For Bally’s

In late March, reports indicated that Bally’s had announced an agreement in principle to merge with Gamesys, a UK-based gaming company. That’s just the latest in a round of maneuvers that included the sale of Bally’s to Twin River Worldwide Holdings, which rebranded as Bally’s in 2020. The brand had been under the Caesar’s umbrella.

As a whole, Bally’s has been very active recently. Since February, the company reached sports betting deals with the NHL, MLB and NBA and raised its profile by rebranding 19 FOX Sports regional TV channels as Bally Sports. For instance, in Florida, the former FOX Sports Florida and FOX Sports Sun are called Bally Sports Florida and Bally Sports Sun as of March 31. That was the result of a deal between Bally’s and Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Also in recent months, Bally’s has branched into the B2B free-to-play market by buying SportCaller, and also purchased daily fantasy sports company Monkey Knife Fight.