Twin River closes Colorado casino purchase; pays $51M for three properties

January 24, 2020 7:44 PM
  • Howard Stutz, CDC Gaming Reports
January 24, 2020 7:44 PM
  • Howard Stutz, CDC Gaming Reports

Twin River World Holdings took ownership of three Colorado casinos Friday after closing a $51 million purchase from Affinity Gaming that was announced last year.

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The Rhode Island-based company now owns the Golden Gates, Golden Gulch and Mardi Gras casinos in Black Hawk, which serves the Denver market. Twin River also owns the Arapahoe Park racetrack near Denver.

The Colorado purchase was one of two deals Twin River had on the books. The $230 million purchase of the Isle of Capri Casino Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri and the Lady Luck Casino Vicksburg in Vicksburg, Mississippi from Eldorado Resorts is still pending regulatory approval.

Twin River owns the Tiverton and Twin River casinos in Rhode Island, the Hard Rock in Biloxi, Mississippi and the Dover Downs in Delaware.

“We are very pleased to close on this transaction, the latest in our ongoing efforts to diversify our portfolio,” Twin River CEO George Papanier said in a statement. “We are excited to move forward with these new acquisitions and continue to make progress towards closing other previously announced purchases.”

The Colorado deal allows Twin River to open sports betting operations in state, which is expected to legalize the activity by May. Papanier said Twin River has partnerships “with two well-known sports betting franchises,” that he said will be announced “at a later date.”

Combined, the three Colorado casinos have 36,000 square feet of gaming space with 20 table games, 700 slot machines and a poker parlor. The properties have three restaurants and bars, and one of the only parking garages in the market with 700 spaces.

Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.