Deputy Editor
Caesars Entertainment is reportedly considering takeover offers, including one from Tilman Fertitta, who owns the Golden Nugget.
Financial Times reported the news on Thursday, and added that Caesars declined to comment. However, the outlet cited sources “familiar with the matter” when reporting that Fertitta had put in one of a number of offers, including a management-led buyout.
Caesars operates more than 50 casino properties nationwide. It’s particularly active on the Las Vegas Strip, with Caesars Palace, The Cromwell, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Horseshoe, The Linq, Paris, and Planet Hollywood.
Paris and Horseshoe still host the World Series of Poker, though Caesars sold the brand to GGPoker in 2024.
Fertitta purchasing Caesars Entertainment would put him back into the iGaming space. Golden Nugget Online Gaming was sold to DraftKings in 2022. Caesars still owns its own iGaming arm, Caesars Interactive Entertainment, which operates the online sportsbook, WSOP.com online poker, and Caesars Palace online casino.
If Fertitta were to control Caesars Interactive Entertainment, he would be in the unusual position of competing against his own former brand. Both brands operate in Michigan, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Forbes estimates Fertitta’s net worth at $10-11 billion. A chunk of that comes from his ownership of the NBA’s Houston Rockets. Caesars has a market cap of about $5 billion.
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Fertittas Have a Long History in Casino Business
Fertitta, for his part, is CEO of Golden Nugget Hotels & Casinos, which operates a handful of properties around the country, including Golden Nugget Las Vegas on Fremont Street.
However, that’s far from the limit of the Fertittas’ involvement in the casino business.
The Fertittas married into the Maceo family, which controlled gambling in the largely lawless Galveston area in Texas in the early to mid-1900s.
In Vegas, the Fertitta family owned Station Casinos. They eventually sold the properties to Boyd Gaming.
If Fertitta does add Caesars Entertainment to the family gambling and hospitality empire, he would do so at a very unusual time. Donald Trump named Fertitta the U.S. ambassador to Italy. When accepting the position, Fertitta announced he would step away from various business roles in order to focus on that ambassadorship.
Image credit: Ken Lund/Flickr (license)
