{"id":1003,"date":"2025-09-16T17:21:33","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T17:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/?p=1003"},"modified":"2025-09-29T11:56:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T11:56:41","slug":"ballys-selling-rhode-island-casino-for-735-million-will-lease-back-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/16\/ballys-selling-rhode-island-casino-for-735-million-will-lease-back-property\/","title":{"rendered":"Bally\u2019s Selling Rhode Island Casino for $735 Million, Will Lease Back Property"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Property is one of two Rhode Island casinos operated by Bally\u2019s<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The company previously executed a similar transaction with its Tiverton casino<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Gaming and Leisure Properties is buying the property and it will lease it back to Bally\u2019s<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Bally\u2019s is selling the property assets of its Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort in Lincoln, RI to Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ: GLPI) for $735 million &#8212; a move that will assist the seller in paring debt.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_41895\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-41895\" data-style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-41895 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Rhode Island Votes for New Casino\" width=\"1200\" height=\"561\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/twin-river-casino-exterior-142x66.jpg\"><figcaption>The Twin River Casino in Lincoln, RI. Bally&#8217;s is selling the real estate for $735 million. (Image: Twin River)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The regional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rhode-island-senate-approves-raising-casino-credit-limits\/\">casino operator runs both<\/a> of the land-based gaming venues in the state. With the help of the sale-leaseback (SLB) on the Lincoln property, Bally\u2019s landed an extension of a $460 million revolving credit facility to Oct. 1, 2028. That loan was originally scheduled to come due on Oct. 1, 2026. By way of the Lincoln deal, the gaming company also reached a deal with creditors to slash debt.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p>Bally\u2019s has agreed with its RCF lenders, that upon completion of the SLB Transaction, Bally\u2019s will take actions to reduce secured debt and credit facilities outstanding by an aggregate amount of $500 million, with first a permanent reduction of outstanding RCF commitments by 7.5%, to approximately $574 million,\u201d according to a statement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Owned by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/standard-general-wraps-up-4-6-billion-ballys-acquisition\/\">hedge fund Standard General<\/a>, Bally\u2019s noted that when it receives consent from holders of $630 million of term loans &#8212; or a third of the operator\u2019s amount outstanding &#8212; that will be sufficient to move forward with the real estate sale.<\/p>\n<h2>Rhode Island Casino Sale Not Surprising Move by Bally\u2019s<\/h2>\n<p>Bally\u2019s decision to sell the property of Twin River Lincoln isn\u2019t surprising because the operator reached <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ballys-selling-leasing-back-rhode-island-casinos-in-1b-deal\/\">an agreement with GLPI in 2022<\/a> to divest the real estate of its two Rhode Island casinos to the real estate investment trust (REIT).<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>Under the terms of that deal, GLPI had rights to acquire Twin River Lincoln by Sept. 30, 2026. Execution <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ballys-selling-leasing-back-rhode-island-casinos-in-1b-deal\/\">of that transaction<\/a> is a key part of ratings agencies\u2019 dim views on Bally\u2019s, and if there are issues that stand in the way of that deal, the seller\u2019s financial flexibility could be hampered, potentially triggering a ratings downgrade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Neither Bally\u2019s nor GLPI speculated on whether or not the gaming company\u2019s creditors will approve the deal, but they may be compelled to do so because the influx of cash will go a long way toward paring Bally\u2019s outstanding obligations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the SLB Transaction is consummated, based upon the agreed amendments with Bally\u2019s RCF lenders, and if similarly ratified by Bally\u2019s term loan lenders, the combined outstanding balances of Bally\u2019s term loans and first lien notes is expected to be reduced from approximately $2.4 billion to approximately $1.94 billion,\u201d according to the press release.<\/p>\n<h2>Bally\u2019s, GLPI Extend Relationship<\/h2>\n<p>In recent years, Bally\u2019s engaged in an array of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ballys-selling-leasing-back-rhode-island-casinos-in-1b-deal\/\">sale-leaseback transactions<\/a> with GLPI to the point that the latter is now the former\u2019s primary landlord, though Bally\u2019s retains ownership of some of the real estate on which some of its casinos reside.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The REIT is also the primary financier of Bally\u2019s $1.7 billion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ballys-wants-property-tax-discount-on-chicago-casino\/\">Chicago integrated resort<\/a> &#8212; the operator\u2019s priciest project to date<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Sale-leasebacks are popular in the gaming industry because the transactions allow the sellers to monetize real estate holdings while maintaining operational control of the properties in question. The downside is that the sellers are taking on long-term liabilities in the form of lengthy lease agreements in exchange for upfront payments. It\u2019s believed Bally\u2019s will be paying GLPI $58.8 million in annual rent on the Lincoln property, exclusive of escalators.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ballys-selling-rhode-island-casino-for-735m-will-lease-back-property\/\">Bally\u2019s Selling Rhode Island Casino for $735 Million, Will Lease Back Property<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Property is one of two Rhode Island casinos operated by Bally\u2019s The company previously executed a similar transaction with its Tiverton casino Gaming and Leisure Properties is buying the property and it will lease it back to Bally\u2019s Bally\u2019s is selling the property assets of its Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort in Lincoln, RI to Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1004,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1003\/revisions\/1004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.chuckwardrealestate.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}