Crown Gaming Buys US Cannery Casino Resorts
12th December, 2007
James Packer, the Australian billionaire and owner of Crowning Gaming, has purchased Cannery Casino Resorts for $1.75 billion. The acquisition includes three Las Vegas casinos and a Pittsburgh racetrack, and will be paid for in cash, doubling Crown's gambling investment in North America. Cannery Casino Resorts is also expecting to open two new casino/hotel complexes which should be mostly complete before the deal is closed.
Since the sale, Packer's gaming acquisitions in the US are now over $3 billion in the past year. Crown recently acquired a 40% stake in Melco PBL Entertainment, which opened its first casino in May. Although Crown has investments in many US casinos, the Cannery purchase will be the first Casino to be fully owned by Crown.
Announcing the deal yesterday, Crown executive chairman James Packer said the Cannery Casino's founders had "created first-class local properties located in markets with attractive, long-term growth prospects".
