Another regulator officially provided approval for the merger that waits to happen between two casino operators. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) has provided approval for the $17.3 billion merger and is yet another regulatory body to give the green light for that to happen.
It means that Eldorado and Caesars are one step closer towards achieving their final goal, which is merging into one huge company that will have a huge impact on the gambling industry in the US. Right now, there are 13 more approvals that need to take place before the merger can happen.
So far, regulators from Louisiana, Iowa, and Illinois has provided official approval. Yet, some of the most important regulatory bodies still haven’t made the call.
Yesterday, Eldorado released a statement that confirmed the approval provided by the PGCB. It seems that regulators in states where the two businesses operate show support for the merger. Therefore, it shouldn’t be that big a problem for it to take place.
In other words, no regulator is expected to slow down the merging process between the two companies. Both Eldorado and Caesars officials hope that the merger would take place sometime in the first half of 2020.
Therefore, it’s basically around the corner, and the only thing that they wait for now is approval from the remaining 13 states.
So far, everything’s on time, and if it continues that way, that means we would be able to see the largest US gaming company that ever operated within the borders of the United States.
The state of Pennsylvania currently has only one casino that is operated by one of the two companies. The popular Harrah’s Philadelphia is a property owned by Caesars.
It will join the majority of other Caesars venue to create a new post-merger entity that will take place once the two companies consume the deal.
Pennsylvania Should Not Be Neglected
Although the newly-formed company would have only one property in the Keystone State, it should not be neglected. Namely, Pennsylvania has been going through a sort of sports betting renaissance. A lot of people are interested in sports wagering there, meaning there’s a lot of opportunities to offer this type of entertainment there.
According to PGCB, Super Bowl LIV saw a total of $30.7 million made in bets for this year. The state offers both online and retail sportsbooks, and they’ve yet to explore the sports betting potential.
What Next?
The next states that are expected to make official approval of the merger are Mississippi and Indiana. They shouldn’t be an obstacle as there’s no room for things such as market monopolization within their respective borders.
Nevada is a bit tricky as Caesars has a lot of properties there, but it seems that the regulators from the state wouldn’t stand in the way of the merger either. Caesars is actively looking to trim down its presence in Las Vegas to make the approval from Nevada regulators smoother.
The only state where approval would perhaps present an issue is New Jersey. There are a total of nine casinos there, and four of them are currently operated by Eldorado and Caesars.
This could make a real disbalance on the market, so the two companies only fear that the NJ regulator would give them a hard time before actually approving the merger. However, it’s possible that the regulators would look away to make the AC gaming scene continue to improve.
One thing is sure, the merger has been on a good way to take place, and the majority of regulators seems to be in favor of it.
