Changing hands
Changing hands
MGM sheds Laughlin properties; other deals get OK
Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage in late-October reached an agreement to sell its two casinos in the Colorado River town of Laughlin, Nev. to a group of investors headed by Anthony Marnell III. Marnell is the son of Anthony Marnell II, former Rio All Suite Resort & Casino operator, and current head of developer Marnell Carrao Associates.
The deal to shed MGM Mirage's Laughlin properties-the Colorado Belle and Edgewater hotel-casinos-nets the company $200 million. MGM Mirage acquired the casinos in its $7.9 billion buyout of Mandalay Resort Group. The group acquiring the Laughlin casinos also includes Sher Gaming.
The move is just the latest in a series of ventures for the younger Marnell. Last year, he announced plans for a $1.8 billion resort casino in Henderson, Nev. That project would include a hotel, casino and a commercial center on 79 acres. Marnell and Sher Gaming also purchased the Saddle West Hotel & Casino in Pahrump, Nev. in June.
The Nevada Gaming Commission approved the sale of another Pahrump casino in October-the Pahrump Nugget Hotel and Gambling Hall by Golden Gaming. A private company, Golden Gaming is headed by Blake Sartini, and operates three casinos in Black Hawk, Colo. It is also Nevada's largest tavern operator with 43 establishments under the PT's Gold and PT's Pub brands. The Nugget, opened in 2001, had been operated by Generation 2000, a group headed by former Las Vegas Strip gaming executive Bill Richardson and members of Sen. John Ensign's family. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
The Gaming Commission also gave its approval for Michael Gaughan to reclaim control of his South Coast Hotel & Casino. The former Coast Casinos chief executive bought back the $600 million property from Boyd Gaming for an estimated $512 million. Boyd Gaming purchased Coast Casinos two years ago, but the South Coast has lagged behind expectations, and Gaughan had said he'd tired of corporate life after the merger.
Gaughan, eager to get back to running his own entrepreneurial style of gaming operation, said the future of the South Coast property is bright, especially when a freeway off ramp from nearby Interstate 15 is built, helping the south Las Vegas resort.
"Everything is gradually looking better," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
-Andy Holtmann
MGM sheds Laughlin properties; other deals get OK
Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage in late-October reached an agreement to sell its two casinos in the Colorado River town of Laughlin, Nev. to a group of investors headed by Anthony Marnell III. Marnell is the son of Anthony Marnell II, former Rio All Suite Resort & Casino operator, and current head of developer Marnell Carrao Associates.
The deal to shed MGM Mirage's Laughlin properties-the Colorado Belle and Edgewater hotel-casinos-nets the company $200 million. MGM Mirage acquired the casinos in its $7.9 billion buyout of Mandalay Resort Group. The group acquiring the Laughlin casinos also includes Sher Gaming.
The move is just the latest in a series of ventures for the younger Marnell. Last year, he announced plans for a $1.8 billion resort casino in Henderson, Nev. That project would include a hotel, casino and a commercial center on 79 acres. Marnell and Sher Gaming also purchased the Saddle West Hotel & Casino in Pahrump, Nev. in June.
The Nevada Gaming Commission approved the sale of another Pahrump casino in October-the Pahrump Nugget Hotel and Gambling Hall by Golden Gaming. A private company, Golden Gaming is headed by Blake Sartini, and operates three casinos in Black Hawk, Colo. It is also Nevada's largest tavern operator with 43 establishments under the PT's Gold and PT's Pub brands. The Nugget, opened in 2001, had been operated by Generation 2000, a group headed by former Las Vegas Strip gaming executive Bill Richardson and members of Sen. John Ensign's family. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
The Gaming Commission also gave its approval for Michael Gaughan to reclaim control of his South Coast Hotel & Casino. The former Coast Casinos chief executive bought back the $600 million property from Boyd Gaming for an estimated $512 million. Boyd Gaming purchased Coast Casinos two years ago, but the South Coast has lagged behind expectations, and Gaughan had said he'd tired of corporate life after the merger.
Gaughan, eager to get back to running his own entrepreneurial style of gaming operation, said the future of the South Coast property is bright, especially when a freeway off ramp from nearby Interstate 15 is built, helping the south Las Vegas resort.
"Everything is gradually looking better," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
-Andy Holtmann
