On December 24th, 2007, Harrah's Entertainment has cleared the last regulatory block in order to accomplish the largest casino buyout in history. Harrah's announced that the National Indian Gaming Commission has given its approval to the $17.7 billion buyout of private equity groups Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group, pending final commission study.
The temporary approval means that the gambling organization can move forward with the buyout deal which is expected to be resolve by 2008. Aside from that, no further regulatory approval is needed. Officials of Harrah's in Las Vegas and the Indian gambling commission in Washington remain quiet about the whole thing.
Harrah's and the private equity organizations received the green light for the buyout deal last week from the Nevada Gaming Commission, putting an end to a ten week campaign to seek approval from state regulators in the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Mississippi.
Harrah's, which produced more than $10 billion in profits, last year, operates more than fifty casinos including Caesars and the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas and Bally's in Atlantic City. The approval of the Indian Gaming Commission is important because the gaming organization also manages tribal casinos.
01/03/2008 07:34 PM
Ann Pettersson