INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - Caesars Entertainment Corp., owner of Hoosier Park Racing & Casino in Anderson and Indiana Grand Racing & Casino in Shelbyville, has been purchased by competing casino and hotel chain Eldorado Resorts, Inc.
The cash and stock deal is valued at roughly $17.3 billion, and will create the nation's largest gaming operator, according to multiple news organizations including Bloomberg and Reuters.
Caesars has reportedly struggled ever since the company was bought out by private equity firms in 2008. That buyout left the company with mountains of debt that eventually led it to file for bankruptcy in 2015.
It just re-emerged from those $18 billion bankruptcy proceedings in late 2017 - around the time Caesars announced it was buying Hoosier Park and the Indiana Grand. The company already operated Horseshoe casinos in Hammond and Elizabeth, Indiana, west of Louisville.
Eldorado started as a single casino in Reno in 1973 but has grown to 26 properties across 12 states.
The deal is expected to be formally announced Monday.
