Las Vegas-based gaming company Golden Entertainment is going private after selling off its operating assets and seven of its casinos in a nearly $1.2B deal.
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Gaming and experiential REIT Vici Properties agreed to purchase Golden's seven Nevada casinos in a sale-leaseback transaction, and Golden’s operating assets will be sold to CEO and Chairman Blake Sartini, the companies announced Thursday.
The transaction offers a 41% premium to Golden’s closing share price as of Wednesday and is still subject to shareholder approval. Each Golden shareholder would receive 0.902 Vici shares per Golden share in the sale, which is expected to close in mid-2026.
“I believe this transaction maximizes value for our shareholders by providing a significant premium to our current share price,” Sartini said in a statement. “We are pleased to combine our high-quality Nevada casino real estate with one of the most attractive experiential real estate platforms in the country and partner together to unlock value in our company and explore future opportunities.”
Vici will acquire The Strat casino on the Las Vegas Strip and Arizona Charlie’s Decatur and Arizona Charlie’s Boulder in Vegas off the Strip.
The deal includes four other Nevada casinos and resorts in Laughlin and Pahrump, but Golden’s Gold Town Casino in Pahrump isn't included in the deal, according to a Vici filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The master lease, which includes more than 363K SF of casino space, more than 6,000 hotel rooms, 4,306 slot machines and 78 table games, will have an initial total annual rent of $87M, according to the filing.
Golden, founded in 2001, also lists more than 70 pubs and taverns and eight casinos and resorts on its website.
Vici agreed to assume and repay up to $426M of Golden's outstanding debt, which totaled $430M at the end of the third quarter. Golden is still considering alternative acquisition proposals from other parties through Dec. 5.
The New York-based Vici was founded in 2017 and acquired MGM Growth Properties — with a portfolio including Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand Las Vegas and Luxor on the Las Vegas Strip — in 2021 for $17.2B. It bought out Blackstone's minority stake in the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay a year later for $1.3B in cash and roughly $1.5B in assumed debt.
Today it owns nearly 60 casinos, including The Venetian and Caesars Palace Las Vegas, plus Chelsea Piers in Manhattan and dozens of Bowlero bowling alleys.
The purchase is happening amid headwinds putting downward pressure on the Las Vegas gambling and tourism scene. Visitation fell 11% year-over-year, and revenue per available room was down 8% as of June, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
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