Tilman Fertitta is the maverick among mavericks in the casino industry, beating veteran operators at their own game and doing it 
as some one who entered the industry as a novice and immediately began to strike gold. More recently, he’s been beating the pants off the competition in New Jersey for Internet gambling. (He was the first to have live, online dealers, an experiment that paid off big time.) We’ve butted heads with Tilman a few times in the distant past but have the highest respect for him and his track record.
Now, in a David-and-Goliath scenario, Fertitta is aiming to take over Caesars Entertainment for $13/share. (The stock is one of the cheapest in the gaming group.) According to the Houston Chronicle, “In what is referred to as a reverse merger, Caesars would buy the Golden Nugget and Caesars shareholders, including Apollo Global Management and TPG Global, would continue to be shareholders in the combined company,” surrendering Caesars shares for Landry‘s ones. The rumors were a shot in the arm to CZR shares, which jumped 16% … to $10.40/share.
Fertitta’s restaurant brands — Morton’s steakhouses, Mastro’s, Bubba Gump Shrimp, Rainforest Cafe, etc. — would be 
redeployed into Caesars properties, CNBC reports. Caesars CEO Mark Frissora would have to clean out his desk to make way for Fertitta. Mind you, since Caesars is still tinkering with a purchase of Jack Entertainment, it may prefer to buy out Dan Gilbert than succumb to Fertitta’s embrace. Credit Suisse analyst Cameron McKnight likes the Landry’s scenario, though, pointing out that “Golden Nugget’s casino portfolio is additive and high quality (adds lucrative markets like Houston) … Fertitta would be a strong addition to management,” not to mention that it would be a merger of two powerful databases. For his part, Landry would get a company that has a “defensive mix of Vegas and Regionals … expected share gains in Las Vegas [and] very attractive valuation, with low expectations.”
Is Fertitta ready to take 55 more casinos and restaurants? I put nothing beyond him and think Caesars would be a better-run company with Fertitta at the helm. Let’s hope Caesars shareholders see it that way too.
* Remember when old-school thinking had conventioneers pegged as a customer tranche to be shunned. (Sheldon Adelson changed all that.) Now Las Vegas is pinning its hopes on a convention calendar that sees 33% improvement in convention in 4Q18 and 4% in the first half of 2019. Las Vegas has also risen from the 10th to the first-ranked destination according to one (unidentified) corporate travel agency.
* Happy 20th birthday to Bellagio, which celebrated its anniversary this week. Heartiest congratulations are in order for the approximately 2,000 original employees who are still on the job and keep making Bellagio the go-to MGM Resorts International casino.
Very interesting indeed (Landrys/CZR); however, Not all markets will be complimentary. I think the combined company would be over-exposed in AC and Biloxi.
I have no doubt that Mr. Fertitta has the skill set and finances to get the job done, I wonder that he would need 3 more Atlantic City casinos. Harrahs has the most potential as it has a more functional layout than Caesars or Bally’s. I think the Harrahs property could be a good match for a partnership with a company like “Gaylord” because of Harrahs nearly new convention space. A new hotel tower would have both inlet/ocean views and wetlands views. In AC, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority is business as usual. They just approved $157,500 for a consultant to try and get a major supermarket to open in AC (no result guaranteed). Perhaps they could have hired a few local Rowan University students from the new AC campus to look online for supermarkets.
The restaurant line up would help Caesers. Anything would be better than the celeb chef heavy current mix.