Tilman Fertitta, whose Landry's Inc. empire spans the Houston Rockets, the Golden Nugget casino chain, and roughly 600 restaurant locations including Bubba Gump Shrimp and Mastro's, has agreed to purchase Caesars Entertainment in a transaction valued at nearly $17.9 billion, according to terms disclosed this week.
The deal would hand Fertitta control of one of the largest casino portfolios on the planet — Caesars Palace, Harrah's, Bally's Las Vegas, Paris Las Vegas, and more than four dozen additional properties across the United States.
Caesars Entertainment itself was assembled through a long and expensive series of acquisitions, most recently Eldorado Resorts' $17.3 billion takeover in 2020, a transaction that left the combined company carrying substantial debt.
Fertitta, whose net worth Forbes most recently placed at approximately $9 billion, is no stranger to leveraged ambition — he took Landry's private in 2010 for roughly $1.4 billion after acquiring it out of bankruptcy.
The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval from gaming commissions in multiple states, a process that, in the casino industry, has been known to take the better part of a year.
Caesars Entertainment's stock closed Friday at $13.71 per share. The company's 52-week high was $22.49.