The Federal Trade Commission made a second request for “additional information and documentary material” regarding Penn National Gaming’s $2.8 billion acquisition of regional gaming rival Pinnacle Entertainment.
In a filing with Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday, Penn National said the company and Pinnacle would, “continue to cooperate fully with the FTC in its review of the merger.”
The SEC filing did not disclose what aspect the transaction drew the second request.
Penn said in the filing it didn’t believe the second request would delay closing of the transaction, which is expected in the second half of 2018.
After the deal, Penn National will operate a combined 41 properties with about 53,500 slot machines, 1,300 table games and 8,300 hotel rooms in the United States.
The transaction was announced in December. To alleviate anti-trust issues, Pinnacle said at the time it would sell four of its Ameristar properties to Boyd Gaming Corp. for $575 million. At the same time, Boyd will sign a lease agreement with Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc., the landlord for Penn National and Pinnacle.
