Wildwood Hotel and Casino to change hands

Fertitta Entertainment Incorporated signed a deal to buy Wildwood Hotel and Casino in Colorado. The deal is worth $43 million. The company is the parent company of Landry's Inc. and Golden Nugget Online Gaming Inc., which signed the purchase agreement in November.

Fertitta Entertainment Incorporated is controlled by billionaire restaurant mogul Tilman Fertitti. It is hoping to complete its acquisition of Wildwood Hotel and Casino by the end of September. However, the deal will be contingent on approval from the five-member Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission and the company's securance of a local gambling license.

Wildwood Hotel and Casino is situated at 9,593 feet above sea level. It is the largest gambling venue in Cripple Creek. Saratoga Harness Racing Incorporated, which owns the nearby Saratsatogas Casino Black Hawk, pulled out of the deal to buy the Wildwood project in March 2020.

Gerry Del Prete, Gaming Chief Operating Officer for Fertitta Entertainment Incorporated, told The Gazette that his company intends rebranding Wildwood Hotel and Casino under its Golden Nugget tag. Del Pte also said that customers will be permitted to redeem any loyalty points earned before the venue changed hands.

American Gaming Group LLC has owned the Wildwood Hotel and Casino since 2008. The local firm spent $14 million to bring a 101-room hotel to the Teller County enterprise from last June.

Fertitta Entertainment Incorporated owns Golden Nugget-branded casinos in the American states of Nevada, New Jersey, Louisiana and Mississippi. He also owns a chain of more than 600 restaurants operating under the Joe’s Crab Shack, Rainforest Cafe, Chart House, Saltgrass Steak House and Bubba Gump Shrimp names. Fertittas also has an estimated fortune north of $6 billion and owns the Houston Rockets franchise of the National Basketball Association.