Caesars mortgages its future with Harrah’s Las Vegas dirt sale

Casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corporation (CEC) has sold the ground underneath its Harrah’s Las Vegas casino to help fund its purchase of two Indiana casinos.

On Thursday, CEC announced that it had inked a deal with VICI Properties to sell and leaseback the land underneath Harrah’s Las Vegas. CEC will receive $1.14b from the sale, while the initial year of the 15-year lease will cost CEC $87.4m in rent. CEC has an option to extend the lease by another 20 years via four five-year extensions.

CEC also announced that it has agreed to acquire 18.4 acres of Harrah’s-adjacent land from VICI to develop a new 300k-square-foot convention center. CEC will have the right to compel VICI to buy the completed convention center and lease it back to CEC. Should CEC choose not to exercise this right, VICI can choose to buy the building and lease it back to CEC. (So basically, expect VICI to be buying the damn building.)

CEC CEO Mark Frissora said the transactions “demonstrate our commitment to pursuing growth opportunities while maintaining balance-sheet discipline.” Although, one might say that the real discipline will be coming via CEC’s looming 2020 debt götterdämmerung.