Sale of the Palms Casino Complete; Owner of Pokerstars Is Expanding in Italy, Among Other Things
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The possibility of a Live! Casino in Orlando, the reopening of the Palms located in Las Vegas, and two distinct online gaming enterprise purchases in the USA and Italy are just some of the news CardsChat reported in the poker world this week.
Orlando is set to get a new casino
A Florida billionaire is teaming up with The Cordish Companies to transform an ancient Jai lai fronton into a casino and a poker room in an Orlando suburb.
President of RD Management in NYC, Richard Birdoff, who owns the 40 acres surrounding the fronton building and the building itself, wants to include a poker room and Live! Casino and in plans for condos, apartments, retail, and office premises in Fern Park area of Florida.
The Live! Seminole County voters must approve Oxford Center proposals in a referendum. In the next months, The Cordish Company lawyers and RD Management will seek county officials to place the vote on the November General Election ballot. According to the Orlando Sentinel, RD Management bought the dilapidated land for $2.5 million in 2010 and presented plans to redevelop it with 1,100 flats and 72K sq ft of commercial premises to the county.
The county has been hesitant to repair water and sewage lines needed to manage such a massive expansion, so plans have stalled. The Cordish Companies own or manage several entertainment venues and casinos countrywide, including a new Live! Casino poker room south of Pittsburgh that just opened last week.
In other developments, the Nevada Gaming Commission cleared Red Rock Resorts’ sale of The Palms to the San Manuel Gaming and Hospitality Authority for $650 million. The transaction was finalized during the meeting that took place this month.
According to a corporate spokesman, it has been closed since last March and will resume operations by next February or March.
The deal was undertaken by the San Manuel Gaming and Hospitality Authority this May. The authority is controlled by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. The company also owns and runs the Yaamava Resort & Casino in San Manuel, which was previously called the San Manuel Casino. The name changed after a makeover in autumn. After the decision on Thursday, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians will become the first Indian tribe to run a Las Vegas-based casino.
Sisal, Italian Gambling company, bought by Flutter
Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of Poker Stars, purchased a retail and online gambling giant, Sisal, last week for $2.2 billion. When paired with Flutter’s current online presence in Italy via Betfair and PokerStars, the purchase gives the business a 20 percent share of Italy’s online gambling industry. Sisal produced $280 million in revenue in 2021, with 58 percent coming from its online services and the rest from a blend of lottery and retail activities. According to CVC Capital Partners Fund IV, everything but 10% of its revenue was earned in Italy. Sisal’s online revenues have increased at a compound annual rate of 34% since 2016.
