(The following is part of a press release from the Indiana Business Journal printed Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018)
Former Centaur Gaming executives have created a new business to acquire two casinos in northwest Indiana, and have plans to relocate both gaming licenses.
The new company, called Spectacle Entertainment, announced Wednesday morning that it has acquired Majestic Holdco LLC, which owns the Majestic Star Casino and the Majestic Star Casino II, both located on Lake Michigan’s Buffington Harbor in Gary, for an undisclosed amount of cash.
Rod Ratcliff, former CEO and chairman of Centaur Gaming, has reached a deal to purchase two northern Indiana casinos,. (Photo by John J Watkins, The NW Times)
Spectacle is led by some of the same individuals who controlled Centaur Gaming—Rod Ratcliff, former chairman and CEO of Centaur Gaming, is the chairman and CEO of Spectacle, and John Keeler, the former general counsel for Centaur, has been named the general counsel for Spectacle.
Centaur sold its two horse track casinos near Indianapolis—Hoosier Park in Anderson and Indiana Grand in Shelbyville—to Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment Corp. earlier this year for $1.7 billion. The two racinos are among the biggest in the state, with Indiana Grand seeing nearly $276 million in total “win,” which is gambling revenue after payouts, in fiscal year 2018, and Hoosier Park generating about $209 million in total win.
Majestic Star and Majestic Star II are among the smallest casinos in the state though—Majestic Star ranked third lowest in total win with $92.2 million in 2018, and Majestic Star II ranked second lowest with $59.8 million.
To reverse the trend, Spectacle will try to relocate one casino within Gary and move the other license somewhere else in the state, but an exact location has not been determined. The relocations would require approval from the Indiana General Assembly.
Ratcliff and Greg Gibson, an entrepreneur from Terre Haute who will serve as vice chairman of Spectacle, are the principal investors.
The transaction, which requires regulatory approval from the Indiana Gaming Commission, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019.