Could a Chicago casino project be a template for developing Tropicana site?
Industry analysts are encouraged by a recently announced financial arrangement between Bally’s Corp. and Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc. to develop a Chicago casino, and there are suggestions the two companies might benefit from a similar strategy in Las Vegas after the Tropicana is demolished.
GLPI is providing Bally’s with the money needed to complete a $1.8 billion casino-hotel on the Chicago River as part of a sale buyback deal. According to the terms, GLPI, a Pennsylvania-based real estate investment trust, or REIT, will own the land under the soon-to-be-constructed Bally’s Chicago Casino Resort and acquire the physical assets of two other Bally’s-branded properties.
The arrangement could provide a road map for how to move forward on the Las Vegas Strip once the Trop is gone.
In a research note issued Friday, Truist Securities gaming analyst Barry Jonas wrote, “If this (GLPI) owned, Bally’s-operated Chicago structure succeeds, we could see this being a template for developments on the Tropicana Las Vegas site.”
Bally’s did not respond to questions regarding its future casino plans in Las Vegas.
Rhode Island-based Bally’s Corp. bought the Tropicana Las Vegas building and its operations from GLPI in 2022 as part of a $148 million transaction. Bally’s then entered into a 50-year lease with GLPI, which costs the casino operator about $10.5 million annually.
The Trop closed on April 2 to make way for a new casino-hotel project and a baseball stadium to house the relocating Oakland Athletics. Demolition of the hotel towers is scheduled to take place this fall, according to a permit issued by Clark County.
GLPI owns roughly 35 acres near the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. As part of the relocation deal approved by Major League Baseball last year, GLPI and Bally’s will commit up to 9 acres for the stadium.
Thus far, details about how the stadium project or a new casino-hotel resort will be financed have not been publicly disclosed.
Last year, Nevada lawmakers approved a public-funding package for up to $330 million to be used toward a stadium.
A’s owner John Fisher has not yet detailed how he would come up with nearly $1.2 billion in private-financing. Fisher told the San Francisco Chronicle in March that $500 million would come from his family, another $500 million would come from yet-to-be-determined equity investors and $200 million would come from debt.
The Las Vegas Stadium Authority has a public meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. on Thursday. A five-year capital improvement plan for the stadium is listed on the board’s agenda.
While the future of the Trop Las Vegas site remains unclear, the Chicago casino deal between Bally’s and GLPI strengthens the latter’s position, according to a research note penned by Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon. Once the deal is finalized, GLPI will be collecting rent payments on 10 Bally’s-branded casinos in nine states.
Beynon said the REIT has established “more comprehensive relationships with its casino operating tenants, including Penn Entertainment and Hard Rock International.” Penn operates the M Resort casino-hotel in Henderson; HRI operates The Mirage casino-hotel, which is closing on Wednesday to make way for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas, tentatively scheduled to open in spring 2027.
“We believe this bodes well for Gaming and Leisure as these operators continue to seek alternative sources of capital to fund growth projects,” Beynon wrote on Friday.
Contact David Danzis at ddanzis@reviewjournal.com.