- Fertitta Entertainment has closed its acquisition of Wildwood Casino in Cripple Creek, Colorado.
- The casino will be rebranded as Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino.
- Last month, Tillman Fertitta acquired a 6.1% ownership share in Wynn Resorts.
Fertitta Entertainment has completed its acquisition of the Wildwood Casino in Cripple Creek, Colorado. The casino will be rebranded as Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino.
In a statement, Fertitta Entertainment Chief Operating Officer for Gaming Gerry Del Prete said:
New Addition to the Golden Nugget Brand
Colorado: Fertitta Entertainment closes Cripple Creek's Wildwood Casino purchase https://t.co/tHfItGhW4c
— Yogonet Gaming News (@YogonetNews) December 7, 2022
The acquisition adds another property to the Golden Nugget brand. Currently, Golden Nugget operates a casino in Las Vegas and four other locations. The new addition has 538 slot machines and 12 table games for gaming as well as a newly constructed 101-room hotel with three restaurants and cafes.
Wildwood Casino is the largest casino in Cripple Creek. The property was owned by the American Gaming Group since its opening in 2008 and it spent $14 million to build the adjacent hotel tower. After the Wildwood Casino purchase, Fertitta Entertainment said that it would retain all of its 300 employees.
The deal was announced last year in documents filed before the Securities and Exchange Commission along with a plan to be a publicly traded company via a SPAC deal. The plan to public was later shelved but as announced last week, the acquisition of Wildwood Casino is now a done deal. At the time of the announcement, the parties said that Fertitta Entertainment would pay $43 million to purchase the Wildwood Casino.
Fertitta Second-Largest Individual Shareholder of Wynn Resorts
Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who owns the Golden Nugget casinos, acquired more than 6.9 million shares of Wynn Resorts last month.
The purchase made him the second-largest individual shareholder. @howardstutz reports: https://t.co/wvLH4rx3XQ
— Nevada Independent (@TheNVIndy) November 1, 2022
Fertitta Entertainment owner Tillman Fertitta made headlines last month when he acquired 6.9 million shares of Wynn Resorts. The acquisition, which is equivalent to a 6.1% ownership share in the gambling giant, makes Fertitta the second-largest individual shareholder of Wynn Resorts, behind only Elaine Wynn, the wife of founder Steve Wynn.
The public filing did not say how much Fertitta paid for the Wynn Share but at the time of the transaction, Wynn’s shares were valued at $58.30, giving the Golden Nugget owner a $403.3 million position in the company as of October 19th, the date of the acquisition according to public records.
Fertiitta’s acquisition of the Wynn shares also came on the same day that he received the go-signal from Nevada Commissioners to proceed with his 43-story casino resort project on the Las Vegas Strip.
Building a Casino Resort in the Las Vegas Strip
Las October, Clark County official greenlighted Fertitta’s plan to develop a high-end casino resort in the Las Vegas Strip. The plan calls for the construction of a 43-story hotel with 2,420 rooms located at the southeast corner of the Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue.
Fertitta purchased the casino site last June in a $270 million deal that included the Tex MexTequila Bar and Grill Building, souvenir shops, and a closed 1960’s era Travelodge motel. The proposed casino would be roughly 1.5 miles south of Wynn’s two luxury towers on Las Vegas Boulevard – Wynn Las Vegas and Encore.
The project includes high-end restaurants, a 37,000 square-foot spa and fitness center, 91,000 square feet of convention space, a wedding chapel, an auto showroom, and a 2,500-seat theater. The resort will also have villas and suites, VIP salons, a bar, and a dedicated room for high-limit gamblers.
