MGM Resorts International announced that it had reached an agreement to sell its Gold Strike Casino located in Nevada’s city of Jean. The property will be acquired by the casino and slots operator JETT Gaming. The latter is currently owned by members of the Herbst family.
The price of the deal was not revealed. The transaction needs to get the approval of Nevada gaming regulatory authorities in order to be finalized.
This is not the first property MGM disposes of. The new deal comes only a month after the sale of another one of the company’s small casinos – the Railroad Pass Casino located in Henderson, Nevada.
The latest deal was explained by MGM’s Chief Financial Officer Mr. Dan D’Arigo to be part of the company’s plan “to review and refine” its portfolio of properties, and become more focused on “new developments in international and regional markets”.
If we have to put this in other words, the reason for the recent sell-outs of MGM properties is due to the fact that the company has a new strategy. After the Chief Financial Officer explained MGM’s motives, experts stated that the reason for the disposals is that by selling its smaller properties that are not considered as core ones, MGM is seeking to gather more financial power to go after bigger projects, especially in Asia.
The sale of Gold Strike Casino is yet to be approved by the local gambling authorities. It is anticipated that the deal will go without any complications. JETT Gaming is a slot machine route operator. It was found six years ago and is currently controlled by the Chief Executive Officer of Terrible Herbst – Mr. Jerry Herbst and his son Tim Herbst.
JETT holds slot machines operations in over 130 locations, including the convenience stores of its controlling company. It also has two small casinos situated in Nevada.
The manager of JETT Gaming Mr. Herbs also made a separate statement, revealing that his company is “pleased with the opportunity to purchase Gold Strike and the surrounding property”. He also explained that his team is doing its best to smoothly finalize the documentation of the deal.
The company is still to announce what it intends to do with the casino, whether it will keep it functioning, or will convert it into another type of facility. None official plans related to the new acquisition’s fate were revealed so only time will tell what is to follow.
