Golden Gaming, the company behind the PT’s tavern chain, three Pahrump casinos and many of the slot machines inside Nevada grocery stores, will soon become a publicly traded business that also controls a property in Maryland.
The Nevada Gaming Commission today gave final approval to the merger of Golden Gaming and Lakes Entertainment, a Minnesota-based company that owns Maryland’s Rocky Gap casino. The merger, first announced in January, was approved by the state Gaming Control Board earlier this month.
When the two businesses are merged, the combined company will be known as Golden Entertainment, and it will be traded on the Nasdaq. Golden Gaming said when the merger first came to light that it would pay $9.57 per share of Lakes — a 37 percent premium — and receive about 7.8 million shares of Lakes stock, about 35.7 percent of the post-merger shares.
Golden Gaming CEO Blake Sartini, who will stay on as head of the new Las Vegas-based company, told the commission today that the merger makes “overwhelming sense” and will create one of the gaming industry’s strongest balance sheets. He said the company will have a diverse portfolio of slot route operations, taverns and traditional casinos.
Aside from its three properties in Pahrump, Golden Gaming already runs dozens of taverns in Nevada under the PT’s, Sierra Gold and Sean Patrick’s brands. It is the state’s largest slot route operator, with thousands of machines inside hundreds of other businesses, such as grocery stores.
Golden Gaming is licensed to enter the slot machine business in Montana, but the Lakes merger gives the company its first full-blown casino outside Nevada.
“What that property does for us...is gives us a springboard, a footprint, in the regional markets on the east side of the country,” Sartini said after his appearance at the commission meeting. “We would anticipate additional growth on the casino side of the business, and whether that comes West, Midwest or East — in particular, Rocky Gap puts us in a good position in the East.”
Sartini’s company has already experienced a lot of growth in recent years. Golden Gaming acquired a slot machine route and two of its casinos from Affinity Gaming
in 2012, and expanded its tavern business last year by acquiring four Irish-themed taverns, establishing the company’s Sean Patrick’s brand.
Even more expansion may be in store further down the road. Sartini said that “as a public company, we’re charged with growth,” and he’s open to any part of the United States.
“Gaming now exists pretty much across the country, and we will be looking at opportunities wherever they may present themselves,” he said.
The merger is expected to close Aug. 1.