Regional casino and racing operator Penn National Gaming (PNG) has struck a deal to purchase the Tropicana Las Vegas Casino Hotel Resort.

The Trop’s current owners, who include investor Alex Yemenidjian and Toronto-based private equity firm Onex Corp, have agreed to sell the perpetually money-losing property to PNG for $360m. PNG says it will fund the acquisition through an expansion of its existing credit facilities and cash on hand. The parties expect to close the deal by the end of the year.

Onex paid $250m to acquire the Trop in 2009 and invested another $200m in upgrades over the past four years. PNG says it plans to immediately plow another $20m into renovations and is considering other potential upgrades, including expansion of the Trop’s retail and restaurant offering plus the addition of new hotel rooms.

PNG CEO Timothy Wilmott said the company had been eyeing a number of potential Vegas deals before it pulled the trigger on the Trop. Wilmott called the deal “a prudent transaction to own and operate a premier Strip asset at an attractive price of entry” and fulfilled “an important long-term strategic objective for the company.”

Nevada casino gaming revenue fell in March as pretty much every vertical except slots and sports betting slid into negative territory.

Total gaming revenue was $951.2m in March, down 3.15% from the same month last year. The loss was far more pronounced on the Las Vegas Strip, which saw revenue fall 9.6% to $507m. Nevada has now posted revenue declines in seven of the last eight months. Numbers for the fiscal year to date, which began in July 2014, are down 2.1% to $8.3b.

The reluctance of China’s VIP gamblers to engage in any indulgence that might attract Beijing’s eagle eye had an alarming effect on Vegas’ baccarat winnings, which fell by one-third to $68.1m. Also contributing to the decrease was baccarat hold, which fell to 8.3%, well below the state’s 12% average. Those two factors allowed blackjack to claim top table game ranking with $98.5m, although this was down 7% year-on-year.

Virtually all table games were in negative territory for the month, including craps ($38.7m, -8%), roulette ($24.9m, -18.7%), three-card poker ($13.7m, -10.1%), pai gow poker ($9.2m, -4.8%), mini-baccarat ($6.1m, -42.4%) and pai gow ($1.1m, -43.4%). The only monthly gainers were let it ride ($3.8m, +0.3%), keno ($2.5m, +8.9%) and bingo ($1.9m, +51.6%). Poker revenue – which includes an unknown contribution from the state’s two remaining online poker licensees – fell 6.5% to $9.7m.