Las Vegas gaming companies complete transactions involving casinos, slot machine routes
A transaction and asset swap involving three Las Vegas gaming companies was completed Thursday.
Affinity Gaming -- which had been known as Herbst Gaming before it was restructured in a bankruptcy reorganization last year -- gave the bulk of its slot machine route operations and two casinos in Pahrump to tavern and slot route operator Golden Gaming in exchange for the company's three casinos in Black Hawk, Colo.
The transaction makes Golden Gaming Nevada's largest slot machine route operator.
Separately, Affinity also sold the portion of its slot route operation covering the Terrible Herbst convenience stores to JETT Gaming, a slot machine route operator owned by the Herbst Gaming Trust.
The three Colorado casinos -- Golden Mardi Gras Casino, Golden Gates Casino and Golden Gulch Casino -- were leased back to Golden Gaming until Affinity receives its gaming licenses in Colorado. The license approvals are expected in the second half of this year.
The deals were originally announced in September and the Nevada gaming regulators approved the transactions last month.
"We are pleased to have completed the transactions, which follows our strategic plans of focusing on our core assets and operating strengths while diversifying our geographic footprint," Affinity CEO David Ross said in a statement.
Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.
Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
