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Caesars Entertainment is weighing takeover offers including a bid from Texas gaming and hospitality billionaire Tilman Fertitta, setting the stage for a potential buyout of one of the jewels of the Las Vegas Strip.
Caesars is exploring a sale after receiving takeover interest from several potential bidders including Fertitta Entertainment, the group behind the Golden Nugget casino chain, said people familiar with the matter. It is also considering a possible management-led buyout.
Talks are ongoing but a transaction is far from a foregone conclusion, the people cautioned. It is possible the talks could collapse, they added.
Caesars declined to comment. Fertitta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Shares in Caesars have sunk to a five-year low. They jumped 19 per cent to $24.74 after the FT reported on the takeover interest, giving the company an equity value of more than $5bn.
Caesars was absorbed into smaller rival El Dorado Resorts following a takeover in 2020. It has a debt load of more than $20bn including lease payments giving it an enterprise value above $30bn.
If a deal materialises, it would mark one of the biggest gaming takeovers in years. Caesars’ annual free cash flow of more than $3bn makes the company an attractive asset to any potential buyer, the people said.
Caesars’ recent struggles have for the second time drawn the attention of Wall Street’s most famed activist investor Carl Icahn. Its board was expanded last year to add two representatives from Icahn Enterprises as part of a brokered peace with him. Icahn agitated for a change of strategy at Caesars in 2019, a move that helped precipitate the El Dorado transaction.
After the 2020 acquisition, El Dorado retained the Caesars’ moniker but the company is officially headquartered in Reno, Nevada, where El Dorado is based. Tom Reeg, Caesars’ chief executive, is the longtime head of El Dorado who was a one-time junk bond trader.
Caesars controls more than 50 casinos across North America, including the Caesars Palace, Harrah’s and El Dorado brands. Caesars also runs a betting app which has struggled to compete with FanDuel and DraftKings.
Despite being one of the most famed brands on the Las Vegas strip, Caesars has had a rocky history. Private equity groups Apollo and TPG bought the company, then known as Harrah’s, in 2008 for $30bn just as the global financial crisis was beginning.
Caesars filed for bankruptcy in 2015. In the aftermath of the restructuring, its huge property portfolio was spun off into a separate listed property trust known as Vici, to which Caesars today pays billions in annual lease expenses. Vici is worth more than twice Caesars’ aggregate valuation.
A surge in interest in gaming stocks during the Covid-19 pandemic, as gamblers were spending heavily online while stuck at home, boosted Caesars’ market value to roughly $24bn. But it has since fallen more than 80 per cent from its highs. In 2025, visitor volume to Las Vegas fell nearly a tenth, according to statistics gathered by the city’s tourism authority.
President Donald Trump in December 2024 appointed Fertitta as US ambassador to Italy. In addition to seven casino resorts in the Golden Nugget stable, he owns stakes in Wynn Resorts and DraftKings, as well as a restaurant empire that includes such chains as Morton’s, Mastro’s, Bubba Gump Shrimp and Rainforest Cafe. Fertitta also owns the Houston Rockets professional basketball team.
In order to cover the huge debt and lease liabilities facing Caesars, any acquisition would likely involve a large financing package from Wall Street banks, which would make the likelihood of a deal materialising much trickier, the people said.
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