The Mississippi Gaming Commission became the latest state regulatory body to approve Penn National Gaming’s $2.8 billion acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment, joining panels from Pennsylvania, Illinois and West Virginia.
In addition, the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission added its okay to deal, joining the previous approval from Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
The merger with its regional gaming rival will give Penn National operational control over a combined 41 properties with about 53,500 slot machines, 1,300 table games and 8,300 hotel rooms in the U.S.
At the end of March, shareholders of Penn National and Las Vegas-based Pinnacle voted overwhelmingly to approve the merger agreement.
However, also in March, the Federal Trade Commission made a second request for “additional information and documentary material” regarding the transaction. It is unclear what drew the second request.
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.
Penn National CEO Tim Willmott said in a statement the company will continue to seek additional regulatory approvals. He expects the transaction will close in the second half of 2018.
