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Here’s why two billionaires want to take the Las Vegas Strip’s biggest casino companies private

Sunday, July 5, 2026 1:39 PM
Photo: Barry Diller @ SXSW flickr photo by johnkoetsier shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license
  • Howard Stutz, The Nevada Independent

A pair of billionaires could soon take ownership of two of the largest gaming companies and control 25 resorts in Nevada — including 16 properties on the Strip.

Proposed deals for MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment, the Strip’s two largest casino operators, have a combined value of $35.6 billion and have properties in more than a dozen states.

In late May, Caesars Entertainment announced it was being acquired by billionaire Tilman Fertitta’s entertainment company for $17.6 billion, which includes cash of more than $5 billion and the assumption of nearly $12 billion of Caesars’ outstanding debt.

A week later, billionaire investor Barry Diller, whose company, People Inc., owns 26 percent of MGM Resorts International, announced his intentions to buy the remaining 74 percent of the gaming giant for $18 billion — $48.30 per share.