Las Vegas Strip casino leader makes surprising decision

The Las Vegas Strip has seen multiple massive changes over the past few years.

Mar 1, 2025 - 21:02

Las Vegas Strip casino leader makes surprising decision

Ceasar's Entertainment has been fairly open about its efforts to sell various properties.

In 2022, the company openly tried to sell Flamingo. That was an effort to get around $1 billion for an older property that needs a remodel.

Those efforts were unsuccessful, which was probably a blessing in disguise for the company as it's probably better off having those rooms to rent. The company had a 96% occupancy rate in Las Vegas in the fourth quarter, which means that Flamingo has continued to be an asset.

Caesars Entertainment (CZR) took that property off the market in 2023, and it has not been officially for sale since then.

CEO Thomas Reeg has made it clear that just because an asset isn't on the market does not mean that it's not for sale.

David Katz asked Reeg about that during Caesar's fourth-quarter earnings call.

"And is there along the way, I know it's been a discussion in past quarters but do you have any updated thoughts in terms of the asset base of the company where there may be things that could be worth looking at, selling?" he asked.

Reeg was clear in his response.

"Yes. David, you'd heard me say many times, we're a public company, everything's for sale every day. No M&A is an easy lift, but the easiest lift, non-core assets, were printed in 2024," he shared.

The Linq Promenade was sold at the end of 2024.
Image source: Daniel Kline/TheStreet

Caesars has sold some non-core assets

Since the failed attempt to sell Flamingo, Caesars has sold some non-core assets.

Those efforts included selling the Linq Promenade, a restaurant and entertainment district in the heart of its Las Vegas Strip holdings. The company shared news of that transaction on Dec. 1, 2024.

"Caesars Entertainment, Inc. today announced the closing of the previously announced sale of the Linq Promenade to a joint venture formed between TPG Real Estate and the Investment Management Platform of Acadia Realty Trust for $275 million. Concurrent with the closing of the transaction, Caesars made a $275 million voluntary prepayment of our Term Loan B due 2030 with the proceeds from the transaction," it wrote.

The casino operator also sold off another Strip-related but not Strip-specific asset earlier in 2024.

Caesars completed the sale of its intellectual property rights for the World Series of Poker in October.

"As previously disclosed, the transaction includes $250 million in cash and a $250 million promissory note due five years after the transaction’s closing secured by the WSOP intellectual property assets being sold," the company shared in a press release.

More Las Vegas:

Caesars retains the right from NSUS to host the flagship WSOP live tournament series at its Las Vegas casinos for the next 20 years and will receive a license from NSUS to continue operating its recently upgraded WSOP Online real-money poker business in Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania for the foreseeable future.

Caesars will continue to feature WSOP branding, and Caesars destinations will continue to enjoy preferential rights to host live WSOP Circuit events going forward.

Caesars CEO says more sales could come

While it seems unlikely that it will sell a Las Vegas Strip casino, that remains possible, but Reeg is more open to offers on other assets.

"We still own some assets that we would consider non-core, non-operating casinos, but have for some, in some form or fashion, are harder to monetize quickly," he shared.

Caesars, for example, owns the Caesars Forum Convention Center in Las Vegas. It has not hinted at any particular asset could be sold. Talks could certainly involve properties outside of Las Vegas.

"We're in active dialogue kind of around this stuff all the time. I would say since the fourth quarter, we've seen an increase in incoming calls in terms of somebody saying, hey, what about this asset? What about that asset? I wouldn't tell you that that's transitioned into any particular trades that I think are imminent or even highly likely," he said.

Reeg, however, did not rule anything out.

"But that's after a couple of years where nobody was making calls at all. So that's a step in the right direction. We are not married to any of our assets or any of our markets. If we can drive value through sale transactions, we'll look at those as well," he added.