Caesars Interactive sells $60m stake to Rock Gaming
Rock Gaming agrees fee for undisclosed percentage of Caesars Interactive, which can be increased at a later date.
Ohio casino group Rock Gaming has invested US$60.8m in Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE), however the size of the stake remains undisclosed.
The move will see Rock acquire an undisclosed percentage of Caesars’ interactive gaming arm, which recently launched Caesars Casino on Facebook and operates the World Series of Poker (WSOP) brand.
According to The Las Vegas Review-Journal, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Rock has the option to increase its shares in the company by 25% for US$19.2m at a later date.
Rock Gaming, owned by Dan Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans and the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers, and Caesars Entertainment Corporation entered into a land-based partnership in 2009, jointly operating two o casino in the state.
“Rock Gaming is pleased to expand our relationship with the Caesars organisation through an investment in Caesars Interactive Entertainment,” it said in a statement. “Through our existing joint venture to develop full-service urban casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati… we believe that an investment in CIE is a natural next step to align our interests and talents with Caesars.”
Last year saw Caesars Entertainment take pre-emptive action ahead of a regulated US online egaming market, acquiring a 51% stake in Israeli social gaming developer Playtika, which develops games for use on social networking sites such as Facebook and Russian counterpart Vkontakte.
In March 2011 CIE received approval from both the Nevada Gaming Commission and Nevada State Gaming Control Board for its partnership with 888’s B2B arm Dragonfish in non-US markets, making it the first approved partnership between a Nevada licensee and an overseas egaming business. CIE is also currently in the application process for an operator licence in the Silver State.
In November Caesars Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman said the casino corporation could launch an online poker site within 12-14 months of federal regulation passing in the US.