{"id":263584,"date":"2023-03-09T16:17:17","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T22:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=263584"},"modified":"2023-03-10T14:38:01","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T20:38:01","slug":"golden-distributed-gaming-sales-draws-moodys-praise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/golden-distributed-gaming-sales-draws-moodys-praise\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden Entertainment Distributed Gaming Sale Lauded by Moody\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday, Golden Entertainment (NASDAQ: GDEN) said it\u2019s selling its Montana and Nevada distributed gaming operations for $361.5 million — a move that\u2019s drawing rave reviews from some analysts.<\/p>\n

\"Golden
Golden Entertainment’s corporate logo. The company was praised for selling its distributed gaming unit. (Image: PR Newswire)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Count Moody\u2019s Investors Service among that group. In a new report to clients, the credit ratings agency applauds Golden\u2019s divestment of its gaming machine route unit to closely held J&J Ventures Gaming.<\/a> That’s because the casino operator will likely use the bulk of the proceeds to shore up its balance sheet, including paring debt.<\/p>\n

Moody\u2019s calls the move by the Strat operator \u201ccredit positive.” But the research firm doesn\u2019t mention potential upgrades to Golden\u2019s \u201cB1\u201d rating or its \u201cstable\u201d outlook. The gaming company\u2019s credit grade is several notches into junk territory.<\/p>\n

Golden Transactions Beneficial to Balance Sheet<\/h2>\n

With its $260 million sale<\/a> of the Rocky Gap Casino Resort in Flintstone, Md., approaching next quarter and the distributed gaming deal likely to be finalized by the end of this year, Golden could make significant headway in terms of firming its balance sheet throughout 2023.<\/p>\n

While the sale of the distributed gaming business and Rocky Gap casino reduces the company’s size and increases reliance on its Nevada casinos, Golden currently has moderate leverage of around 3.5x (Moody’s adjusted), which will reduce pro forma for the proposed transactions. Golden intends to maintain its net leverage ratio below 3x,\u201d<\/strong> observes Moody\u2019s.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Moody\u2019s appears convinced that Golden will use proceeds from that pair of transactions to reduce leverage, other analysts speculate that the casino operator could deploy the cash in mixed fashion, using it to pare debt and repurchase shares and potentially deliver a special dividend to investors.<\/p>\n

Last year, the company bought back 1.1 million<\/a> of its own shares. Chairman and CEO Blake Sartini owns about 19% of the shares outstanding. The Las Vegas-based firm may raise further cash this year by selling the shuttered Colorado Belle in Laughlin, Nevada. But an announcement to that effect hasn\u2019t been made.<\/p>\n

Ins and Outs of Golden Distributed Gaming Sale<\/h2>\n

There are some important details in the sale of the distributed gaming unit, including that J&J Ventures will service Golden\u2019s Nevada pubs and taverns following closure of the deal.<\/p>\n

J&J will acquire Golden\u2019s distributed gaming operations in Nevada for $213.5 million plus an estimated $34 million of purchased cash, and Golden\u2019s distributed gaming operations in Montana for $109 million plus an estimated $5 million of purchased cash, subject to customary working capital adjustments,\u201d added Moody\u2019s. \u201cIn addition, Golden will enter into a five-year agreement with J&J Gaming under which the latter will support Golden\u2019s gaming operations at its branded tavern locations in Nevada at financial terms consistent with the company\u2019s past practice.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The ratings agency has a \u201cB2\u201d grade with a \u201cstable\u201d outlook on J&J Ventures Gaming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday, Golden Entertainment (NASDAQ: GDEN) said it\u2019s selling its Montana and Nevada distributed gaming operations for $361.5 million — a move that\u2019s drawing rave reviews from some analysts. Count Moody\u2019s Investors Service among that group. In a new report to clients, the credit ratings agency applauds Golden\u2019s divestment of its gaming machine route unit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":263585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,32093,69293],"tags":[81903,81966,81890],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGolden Distributed Gaming Sales Draws Moody's Praise<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Moody's applauds Golden Entertainment distributed gaming sale.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/golden-distributed-gaming-sales-draws-moodys-praise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Golden Distributed Gaming Sales Draws Moody's Praise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Moody's applauds Golden Entertainment distributed gaming sale.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/golden-distributed-gaming-sales-draws-moodys-praise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-09T22:17:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-10T20:38:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/GDEN.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1496\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"785\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/golden-distributed-gaming-sales-draws-moodys-praise\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/golden-distributed-gaming-sales-draws-moodys-praise\/\",\"name\":\"Golden Distributed Gaming Sales Draws Moody's Praise\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/golden-distributed-gaming-sales-draws-moodys-praise\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/golden-distributed-gaming-sales-draws-moodys-praise\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/GDEN.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-09T22:17:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-10T20:38:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Moody's applauds Golden Entertainment distributed gaming sale.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/golden-distributed-gaming-sales-draws-moodys-praise\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/golden-distributed-gaming-sales-draws-moodys-praise\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/golden-distributed-gaming-sales-draws-moodys-praise\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/GDEN.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/GDEN.jpg\",\"width\":1496,\"height\":785,\"caption\":\"Golden Entertainment's corporate logo. The company announced its first ever quarterly dividend on Thursday. 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Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. 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