Century Casinos announced Tuesday it’s completed the acquisition of the operations of the Nugget Casino Resort in northern Nevada from Marnell Gaming for $100 million.
The Nevada Gaming Commission signed off on the deal for the casino two weeks ago.
In April 2022, Century purchased from Marnell 50% of the membership interests in Smooth Bourbon LLC, which owns the land and building on which the Nugget is located in Sparks. The Nugget and Smooth Bourbon have a lease agreement for an annual rent of $15 million. Following the acquisition, Smooth Bourbon will be a consolidated subsidiary of Century.
“The Nugget is a great addition to our portfolio,” Erwin Haitzmann and Peter Hoetzinger, co-chief executive officers of Century Casinos, said in a statement. “We have plans to update the façade, signage, slot floor, and food and beverage venues.”
The full-service resort includes a large gaming floor, two hotel towers with 1,382 hotel rooms, 114,500 square feet of convention space, an 8,555 seat outdoor amphitheater, a variety of casual and fine dining options in addition to several on-site bars and lounges, and a five-story 1,200 space parking garage and an additional 1,272 surface parking spaces.
With this transaction, Century now owns 18 casinos worldwide.
On a pro forma basis giving effect to the acquisition as if it occurred on January 1, 2022, the company’s net operating revenue and adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2022, with the Nugget would have been $529.6 million and $129.9 million, respectively.
Andreas Terlere, executive vice president of operations USA for Century, told the Nevada Gaming Commission the plan is to keep the existing management and staff.
As for upgrades, the slot floor needs more modern machines and doesn’t have the right ambience, Terlere said. The average age of existing slots is 15 years, much older than the average at other Century properties.
“We’ll purchase 100 new slot machines immediately after being approved to acquire the Nugget,” Terlere said. “We’re planning to add 17,000 square feet (of casino space) on the south side of the Nugget that’s currently unused.”
Century financed the acquisition with funds previously borrowed from its existing credit agreement with Goldman Sachs USA.
