Penn National Gaming has announced that The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) has approved its proposed financing, for the company’s pending acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment, subject to customary conditions.
The completion of the proposed $2.8bn cash and stock transaction is contingent of receipt of regulatory approvals, in addition to certain other conditions being met.
Just last month, the Pennsylvania Gaming Board, and the West Virginia Lottery Commission, conditionally approved the company’s pending acquisition.
This followed shareholders of Penn National approving the issuance of common stock to Pinnacle stockholders, in connection with the pending transaction on March 29, as well as their Pinnacle counterparts voting to adopt the merger agreement for the transaction.
Timothy J. Wilmott, chief executive officer of Penn National Gaming, commented, “We appreciate the prompt review and approval of our proposed transaction by the IGB.
“As the operator of three casinos in the state as well as video gaming terminals in licensed establishments through Prairie State Gaming, we are proud to serve our customers in Illinois and contribute to the state’s economic vitality.
“We look forward to securing additional regulatory approvals in the near term, and remain on plan with our goal to complete the transaction in the second half of 2018.”
Pinnacle, operators of 16 gaming and entertainment business across nine jurisdictions, will take Penn National’s operations to 45 facilities spread over 20 jurisdictions.
These are detailed as being California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Massachusettes, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana and Ontario.
As of December 31, 2017, it was detailed that Penn National Gaming operated approximately 36,200 gaming machines, 810 table games and 4,800 hotel rooms, in addition to the Company also offering social online gaming through its Penn Interactive Ventures division.
