Horseshoe Casino Brand Returns to Las Vegas

Posted on: December 14, 2022, 04:08h. 

Last updated on: January 3, 2023, 05:44h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

The widely anticipated transition of Bally’s on the Las Vegas Strip will be complete on Thursday. That’s when the venue officially takes the Horseshoe name, marking the return of that iconic brand to the US casino mecca.

Horseshoe
Bally’s on the Las Vegas Strip. The venue officially takes the Horseshoe name on Thursday. (Image: KSNV)

Early this year, Caesars Entertainment — the operator of the venue — said it would apply the legendary Horseshoe name to the casino resort. In 2020, Caesars sold the Bally’s brand to the company previously known as Twin River Worldwide Holdings (TRWH) for a reported $20 million. Prior to that, TRWH purchased Bally’s Atlantic City. Under the terms of the brand purchase agreement, the buyer provides a perpetual license to Caesars to use the Bally’s name in Las Vegas.

The 44-acre property is located at the center of the world-famous Las Vegas Strip, across from Caesars Palace and The Cromwell, next to Paris Las Vegas at the Flamingo Road intersection. Bally’s Las Vegas is steps away from various Las Vegas landmarks and attractions and is a stop on the Las Vegas Monorail,” according to Caesars.

Bally’s corporation is the operator of the Tropicana on the Strip, but it’s not yet clear if or when the company will rename that venue. Since purchasing the brand from Caesars, Bally’s has renamed a significant portion of its regional casinos.

Bally’s History

This isn’t the first time Bally’s on the Strip has experienced a name change. When it opened in 1973, it was the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino. The company known as Bally Manufacturing acquired it in 1986, renaming it Bally’s.

The Bally’s name stuck over more than three decades and multiple acquisitions, including Hilton buying the venue in 1996, and Harrah’s Entertainment acquiring it nine years later through its purchase of Caesars. While the Bally’s brand was well-known in the gaming industry, for years there were just two casino hotels with that name — the one on the Strip and one on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

In Las Vegas, the soon-to-be Horseshoe has nearly 70,000 square feet of casino space, including more than 1,500 gaming machines.

“In May 2018, Bally’s Las Vegas completed a $125 million redesign of 2,052 guest rooms and suites in the Resort Tower. Nearly every guest room at Bally’s Las Vegas has been renovated within the last four years,” added Caesars.

Caesars Increasingly Embracing Horseshoe Brand

Harrah’s Entertainment acquired the Horseshoe gaming brand in 2004 as part of a $5.2 billion acquisition of Caesars and Binion’s Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas. That venue opened seven decades ago, confirming the Horseshoe brand is among the most venerable in the Sin City casino gaming scene.

Today, “new Caesars” is boosting its use of the Horseshoe brand. In addition to the Thursday debut of the brand on the Strip, the name was applied to a Caesars venue in Lake Charles, La., which reopened earlier this week.

The operator also uses the brand in Baltimore, in Colorado, at two gaming venues in Indiana, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Tunica, Miss., and St. Louis.