Sometime back, Eldorado Resorts and Caesars Entertainment reached an agreement to merge with Eldorado buying 51% of the shares in Caesars.
The purchase would ultimately make Eldorado the new controlling owner at Caesars or to be fair, the most influential partner in the deal.
For the agreement to officially take effect, it must get approval from the concerned parties. Iowa has been the latest state to approve the merger after Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Illinois gave their support. Just a few days ago, the Iowa Gaming Commission gave its go-ahead.
The merger needs to be confirmed by 14 more states, New Jersey and Nevada included. The two states are said to be the toughest to please, but with everyone else on board, the merger might just sail through. According to calvinayre.com, even as states continue to approve the merger, there are still a few issues that need to be ironed out before the two companies can finally sign the deal.
The major issue is regarding how the post-merger sportsbooks are going to be operated. On one hand is Eldorado, whose sports books are operated by a third party to run the show on its behalf. Eldorado teamed up with William Hill in a deal where the latter manage gambling operations for the gaming operator. On the other hand, is Caesar who runs their own show. This discrepancy in how each company runs its sportsbooks may pose a challenge after the merger.
Casino.org was able to sneak a short interview with Tom Reeg, Eldorado CEO. In the interview, Reeg confessed that it is true the issue is actually posing a big challenge to both parties. However, the two companies are trying to find a solution before the deal is closed.
He added saying that if the deal was close as things are right now, William Hill will have to take over Caesar’s sportsbooks, under the same agreement they have with Eldorado. The gaming website did not stop with the website. It tried to dig out more information on how sportsbooks are being managed inside the two gaming giants.
Apparently, William Hill is in charge of the sportsbooks at nine of Eldorado properties while Caesars has its own branded sportsbooks that are being used in 29 casinos in the US. These numbers are dynamic in different unique ways. However, one or both of the merging companies will have to let go of one or more of its properties in a bid to please regulators to allow the merger.
Executives at the two companies are hoping the deal will close by end of the second quarter or even before then if all goes exactly as planned. However, the opinion of some business analysts is that this will highly depend on the enthusiasm of the remaining regulators to sign off on the merger, which of course may be halted by other interests. Before then, both parties hope the sports issue will have been ironed out.
