Bally's Sells Its Rhode Island Casino For $700M, Secures $1.1B In Loans

Casino operator Bally’s Corp. has executed a sale-leaseback and boosted its line of credit, setting it up to build two high-profile properties. 

The company sold the real estate of its Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort to a subsidiary of Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. for $700M, both parties announced. Twin River is a 190-acre casino and entertainment complex with a 165K SF casino, a 29K SF event center and a 136-room hotel. 

Bally’s will continue to operate the casino complex and has agreed to lease the property back from GLPI for $56M a year. It’s the fifth property GLPI has bought from Bally’s and leased back to the casino operator, GLPI Chairman and CEO Peter Carlino said in a statement. 

The casino generated over $490M in gross gaming revenue last year, making it one of the country’s top-performing regional casinos, Carlino said.

Bally’s also announced it entered into a loan arrangement with Ares Management credit funds, King Street Capital Management and TPG Credit to secure a $1.1B loan package. The loans run through 2031. 

The company said the fresh capital will be deployed toward the completion of two new high-value properties: the $1.7B Bally’s Chicago and the $4B Bally’s Bronx. 

The Twin River sale was the subject of a dispute between the casino operator and some of its lenders in October. Bally’s had previously used the Rhode Island property as collateral for its term loan and wanted to instead use the under-construction Chicago casino. A coalition of lenders balked at that idea. As of press time, it’s unclear if there has been a resolution to that dispute. 

Bally’s won local approval for Bally’s Bronx in December. The project would be the largest private development in the Bronx’s history. The project was approved at the same time as an $8B casino project near Citi Field in Queens by billionaire Steve Cohen. Should the two receive approval from state gaming regulators, they would be the first New York City casino projects to be greenlit in the city’s history.