Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., a company based in Las Vegas, will buy the Sands Hotel & Casino, which is the smallest casino in Atlantic City and a neighboring site along the Boardwalk, for approximately $250 million.
After weeks of rumors, yesterday's announcement made clear Pinnacle's plans to try to acquire an Atlantic City casino. The company was outbid in May in its protracted attempt to buy Aztar Corp., the owner of the Tropicana Casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
The Sands and the adjacent land, which is the site of the former Traymore hotel, are owned by business entities affiliated with billionaire Carl Icahn. Icahn, the owner of three casinos in Las Vegas, took control of Atlantic City's Sands six years ago.
The companies said the hotel-casino would be closed by mid-November, with 2,100 employees to get 60 days' notice of the expected date. They will receive severance packages.
The gambling resort is a part of a building renaissance. A revamped and expanded Sands would probably be competing against not only Atlantic City's 11 other casinos but also a new billion-dollar gambling palace that Morgan Stanley plans to start building in 2008.
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