What is Century Casinos? What we know about Nugget hotel-casino buyer
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Colorado-based Century Casinos, which previously acquired several Eldorado properties, owns gambling operations in North America and Poland.
With the Nugget Casino Resort poised to change hands yet again, many are likely wondering about its new out-of-state buyer, Century Casinos.
Prior to Wednesday, not many in Reno-Sparks were familiar with the Colorado-based company. That changed during the early morning hours of Feb. 23, when Century Casinos announced an agreement to acquire the longtime hotel-casino that the late John Ascuaga grew into one of the premier gaming destinations in the area.
The agreement with current owner Marnell Gaming involved purchasing the hotel-casino as well as a 50% stake in Nevada limited liability company Smooth Bourbon for $195 million. This comes just a little under six years since Marnell bought the Nugget from the Ascuaga family in May 2016.
While Las Vegas-based Marnell was a known entity for many Nevadans, the same can’t be said for Century Casinos. Here is a quick primer about the company and what it does.
Century Casinos has some history with one Reno gaming company
Founded in 1992, Century Casinos is currently headquartered in Colorado Springs. The company has been trading on the NASDAQ under the stock ticker CNTY since 1994.
Century Casinos describes itself as a casino entertainment company with several regional holdings across the United States and Canada as well as overseas. Its properties include a mix of casinos, hotels and race tracks such as the Mountaineer Casino Racetrack Resort in West Virginia and Century Casinos in Cape Girardeau and Caruthersville, Missouri.
If those names sound familiar, it’s because Century purchased those properties in 2019 from Eldorado Resorts — yes, that Eldorado Resorts. In fact, Eldorado employed a similar strategy to Century Casinos by acquiring regional gaming operations as it grew beyond its home market. Since divesting several of its properties to Century Casinos for $385 million, Eldorado has changed its name to Caesars Entertainment after acquiring global gaming brand Caesars. The Eldorado-Caesars merger was completed in July 2020.
As for the properties bought by Century from Eldorado, they now account for a big portion of the Colorado-based company’s holdings. Here is a list of properties under the Century Casinos umbrella.
- Mountaineer Casino Racetrack Resort in New Cumberland, West Virginia
- Century Casino Cape Girardeau in Missouri
- Century Casino Caruthersville in Missouri
- Century Casino and Hotel Cripple Creek in Colorado
- Century Casino and Hotel Central City in Colorado
- Century Casino and Hotel Edmonton in Canada
- Century Casino St. Albert in Canada
- Century Mile Racetrack and Casino in Alberta, Canada
- Century Downs Racetrack and Casino in North Calgary, Canada
Century Casinos also has a controlling stake in Casinos Poland, which includes eight hotels located in upscale casinos in cities such as Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw. It also owns Century Bets!, an off-track betting network for horse races that operates in North America.
Growth amid COVID-19 pandemic
Like many gaming companies, Century Casinos was significantly impacted by COVID-19, especially in 2020 when the industry faced mandatory closures.
Last year, however, saw the beginning of a recovery for the company’s gaming operations, according to its latest available financial statement from the third quarter of 2021.
“The COVID-19 pandemic … has impacted the company’s results of operations to a lesser extent in 2021 because the company’s United States properties were open and operating during this period,” the company reported.
Although the continued impact of COVID-19 remains uncertain, according to the company, Century Casinos also saw some progress last year after a brutal 2020 for the gaming and tourism sector.
The company reported net operating revenue of $116.6 million in the third quarter of last year, an increase of 22% from the same period in 2020. Its earnings from operations totaled $25.7 million, up 71% year-over-year. The company’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA was $33.1 million, a 49% improvement from the previous year.
Century Casinos is also eyeing several major projects. It is planning to relocate its Century Casino Caruthersville operation, for example, and turn it into a land-based casino with a hotel by 2024. The property is the last riverboat casino operating in open water in Missouri, according to the company. The company also plans to build a hotel for its Girardeau casino.
Both projects are expected to cost $68.3 million and will be funded either through cash, financing or a mix of both. Century Casinos has more than $100 million cash on hand and no significant debt maturing prior to 2026.
“We continue to have a strong balance sheet,” said co CEOs Erwin Haitzmann and Peter Hoetzinger in a joint statement. “We are exploring exciting growth opportunities at our two Missouri properties with plans to build a hotel at each property and a land-based casino in Caruthersville.”
Plans for the Nugget in Sparks
With the Nugget generating net operating revenue of $100.4 million as well as adjusted earnings before interest, tax and depreciation of $32.8 million for 2021, it would easily be one of the top properties in Century Gaming’s portfolio. The Reno Gazette Journal has reached out to Century Casinos for comment about its plans for the Nugget.
The company has previously indicated that it expects a seamless integration of the property to its existing portfolio. Century Casinos also expressed excitement about the property’s potential amid Reno-Sparks’ strong growth in recent years.
“We have been looking at entering the Reno market for a long time, and we believe the Nugget is a perfect fit for our portfolio,” Haitzmann and Hoetzinger said. “We believe there is a lot of upside to this transaction and that we identified some areas of improvement to continue the Nugget’s growth.”
In an interview with the Colorado Springs Gazette, Hoetzinger said that the company was especially attracted to The Biggest Little City due to its proximity to Lake Tahoe as well as the presence of big names such as Tesla, Apple, Amazon and Switch. Reno-Sparks’ lower unemployment number was also seen by the company as a good sign for the area’s prospects.
Add the investments made by Marnell since acquiring the Nugget — it spent more than $6 million to build a new amphitheater that has since hosted big acts such as KISS, for example — and Century is quite bullish about acquiring the property.
“Marnell has invested $90 million during the past four years in the property, which as a result is in very good shape,” Hoetzinger told the Colorado Springs Gazette.
“This is a very good acquisition from a profitability standpoint. The Nugget also has a very strong convention and entertainment business, attracting big-name acts to its amphitheater that have been very beneficial to the casino business.”
