Gaming and Leisure Properties Acquires Casino Queen

Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. has announced that it has agreed to buy the real estate assets associated with the Casino Queen in East St. Louis, Illinois. The casino and its land covers roughly 78 acres and includes a 157 room hotel, a 38,000 square foot casino with 27 tables and 1,155 slots, a steakhouse, a buffet, a quick service deli, a sports bar and a full service RV park. The resort was built in 2007 and had approximately 1.7 million guests over the past year.

Gaming and Leisure Properties has agreed to pay $140 million for the resort. Furthermore, it will provide Casino Queen with a $43 million term loan to cover all of Casino Queen’s outstanding long-term debt obligations. The loan has a five year maturity with an interest rate of 7%.

The Chairman and CEO of Gaming and Leisure Properties, Peter M. Carlino, said, “This is our first acquisition as a standalone company and is representative of the robust opportunities that exist in the gaming asset markets that our company is targeting.

The Casino Queen adds a newly constructed asset with strong market share to our portfolio and further diversifies our operating partners, while strengthening our cash flow.”