Tropicana Entertainment to sell Mississippi riverboat casino

Tropicana, controlled by investor Carl Icahn, disclosed Tuesday it agreed to sell the operation for us$ 3.25 million plus the assumption of certain liabilities. The buyer is Delta Investments & Development, a Nevada-incorporated company.

Investors include executive J. Michael Caldwell of Gateway Gaming in the Greenville/Piedmont, area.

Gateway describes itself as a leader in downloadable gaming content for casino and bingo operations. For instance, its game themes include Mayan Lost City, Safari, Dinosaur Hunter, Rock Star World and Hotter Than Hell.

Another investor is Steven Haynes of Dallas, an official with New York-based Tangent Gaming, which provides financing for gaming facilities, equipment and operators in the United States and Mexico. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011.

In a March regulatory filing, Tropicana said Vicksburg Horizon has been hurt by competition that expanded in recent years in the Vicksburg market, where there are four other gaming operations.

In the South, Tropicana continues to own two casinos in Greenville, Missississippi, north of Vicksburg; as well as one in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Tropicana Entertainment didn't say in a regulatory filing why it's selling the Vicksburg property. “We had an offer from an interested party. It's an amenable offer,'' Tropicana spokesman Trent Dang said Wednesday.

Michael Sullivan in Birmingham, Alabama, a consultant who works with the investors, said the investors intend to keep the Vicksburg property's 130 employees and the current management team. He said that after the deal closes, likely next year, the property would close for 30 to 60 days for renovations and remodeling.

The investors view the property as a distressed asset and plan to invest some us$ 20 million in improvements to make it more competitive, he said.