Eldorado Resorts Granted Plenary License in Atlantic City

On Tuesday, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission (NJCCC) granted a plenary license to Eldorado Resorts, a Nevada-based gaming and hospitality company which is now going to be operating the Tropicana Atlantic City. The approval of the operator’s license comes eight months after it completed the $1.85 billion acquisition of Tropicana Entertainment Inc., the parent company of the Tropicana Atlantic City – the company was previously owned by New York activist investor Carl Icahn.

The Tuesday ruling came after a two-hour hearing and before that, Eldorado had been working through an interim license which was issued last September after the acquisition of the property was finalized.

More on Tropicana Atlantic City

The casino which has been around since 1981 as part of the Boardwalk group of casinos in Atlantic City has is the second largest casino in terms of gaming revenue generated. It is only beaten in the ranking by The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. Tropicana Atlantic City has also been one of the few casino properties that have managed to survive turbulent economic times in the state and by so doing, it has managed to continue being a steady attraction. The property boasts of a hotel with 2,400 rooms, retail facilities, restaurants, a spa, a movie theater as well as an entertainment complex.

Tropicana also happens to be one of the state’s sportsbooks – it officially kicked off operations in October 2018 which was just five months after the United States Supreme Court lifted abolished the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) and lifted the federal ban on sports betting. The casino operator initially offered the vertical as a temporary in-person sportsbook before converting it into a permanent sports betting operation in March 2019.

Now that Eldorado has acquired a plenary or permanent license to operate the property, there is a lot of optimism regarding what the project will have to offer. James Plousis, the chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, for instance, has said that he expects the operator to “positively contribute to this market and support Atlantic City’s continued upward trajectory.”

Eldorado’s Other Plans

Tropicana Atlantic City aside, Eldorado Resorts is also reportedly in talks with rival gaming and hospitality operator Caesars Entertainment Corp. for a possible merger. Now that Eldorado is the owner of Tropicana and Caesars currently runs three casinos in Atlantic City, the merger would mean that that four of the city’s nine casinos would be under the wings of the combine Caesars-Eldorado property. In fact, the merger will create one of the largest gambling companies on the planet.