Archive for July 31st, 2010

The Boyd Gaming Corporation had been attempting to acquire some of the assets belonging to Station Casinos, but they have recently decided to cancel their efforts.

In 2009, Station Casinos filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. Their filing had $5.7 billion in assets against their debt of $6.5 billion. Eighteen casinos lay under the Station banner, in both Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada. Station Casinos did not include any online casinos.

Boyd Gaming Corporation is the owner and operator of 16 different casinos, ranging from Las Vegas to New Jersey. Their operations include the Borgata in Atlantic City, the Main Street Station in Nevada, and and many others.

“Over the last eighteen months, we have devoted significant resources in our attempt to acquire the Opco assets of Station Casinos,” began Keith Smith, President and CEO of Boyd Gaming. “Unfortunately, given bidding procedures that favor Station insiders, and our current view of the limited potential value of the operating and development assets, we have concluded this opportunity no longer makes sense for our company.”

Amongst the provisions noted by Boyd Gaming, the provisions that made it difficult for bidding to compete with the aforementioned insiders included several detrimental drawbacks. Outside buyers, for instance, would have to acquire the currently leased land that does not apply to Station Insiders.

The range of stipulations that Boyd would have had to contend with in order to add these assets as their own had effectively limited the ability to compete with Station Insiders on a level playing field.

Boyd Gaming Corporation could, on the other hand, wait until the regulation of online gambling and instead expand their assets to provide one of the best USA online casinos.