Golden Entertainment is an American

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playin ...

company based in

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

that operates

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...

s and slot routes. It was formed in 2015 by the merger of Golden Gaming (founded in 2001 by

Blake Sartini Blake L. Sartini (born January 16, 1959) is an American entrepreneur in the Nevada gaming and entertainment industry. He is Chairman, President and CEO of Golden Entertainment, Inc., an owner and operator of distributed gaming, taverns and casin ...

) and

Lakes Entertainment Lakes Entertainment, Inc. was an American Gambling, gaming company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnesota. It merged with Golden Gaming in 2015 to form Golden Entertainment. History The company was created on December 31, 1998 as pa ...

. It is the largest tavern operator and largest slot route operator in Nevada. In October 2017, the company completed an $850 million acquisition of

American Casino & Entertainment Properties American Casino & Entertainment Properties (ACEP) owned and operated 4 casinos. It was purchased by Golden Entertainment in October 2017 for $850 million. ACEP was a casino holding company headquartered at the Stratosphere Las Vegas. ACEP was a wh ...

. The company now has 10 casino resorts, nine in Southern Nevada and one in Maryland.

History

Golden Gaming was formed in October 2001 as a result of Blake L. Sartini's acquisition of Southwest Gaming Services, a company he founded before selling to

Station Casinos Station Casinos, LLC is an American hotel and casino company based in Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin South, Nevada, and founded by Frank Fertitta Jr. Station Casinos, along with Affinity Gaming, Boyd Gaming and Golden Entertainment, dominate t ...

. In 2002, the Golden Tavern Group subsidiary was formed, and it acquired the PT's chain of taverns. In 2004, the company acquired three casinos in

Black Hawk, Colorado Black Hawk is a home rule municipality located in Gilpin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 127 at the 2020 United States Census, making Black Hawk the least populous city (rather than town) in Colorado. The tiny city is a ...

: the Golden Gates, Golden Gulch, and Golden Mardi Gras. In 2006, Golden Gaming acquired the Pahrump Nugget Hotel & Gambling Hall from Generation 2000. In February 2007, Golden began a two-year deal to operate the casino at the

Hard Rock Hotel Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and ro ...

while its new owner,

Morgans Hotel Group Morgans Hotel Group (NASDAQ: $MHG) was a global, publicly-traded hotel company founded by Ian Schrager, inventors of the boutique hotel category with the 1984 opening of Morgans Hotel in New York City. MHG was listed on the NASDAQ exchange for o ...

, applied for a gaming license. Golden paid $20.7 million a year to lease the casino, and received a $3.3 million monthly management fee, plus a portion of revenue. Golden pulled out of the deal early when Morgans received its gaming license in January 2008, citing a desire to focus on its other operations. Golden Gaming agreed in November 2007 to buy the Saddle West casino in Pahrump from Anthony Marnell III and Sher Gaming, but canceled the deal the following June, deciding instead to focus on the Pahrump Nugget, where it began an $11 million expansion and remodeling. In 2010, Golden Gaming agreed to take over operation of four small casinos owned by

The Siegel Group The Siegel Group, Inc. is an American diversified company based in Paradise, Nevada and Studio City, California. It owns and operates hotels, hotel casinos, short-stay apartments, office buildings, shopping centers, and land for development. Hi ...

, previously operated by

United Coin United Coin Machine Co. was an American slot route operator based in Paradise, Nevada. It operated slot machines in locations such as bars, convenience stores, and grocery stores. For many years, United Coin was the largest slot route operator in N ...

: the Gold Spike, Siegel Slots and Suites, the Resort on Mount Charleston, and Rumor. Gold Town Casino

In March 2012, Golden bought from

Affinity Gaming Affinity Interactive, formerly known as Herbst Gaming and Affinity Gaming, is an American private casino and sports betting company based in Paradise, Nevada. It operates eight casinos in Nevada, Missouri, and Iowa, and publishes the '' Daily Raci ...

the Terrible's Town Casino and Terrible's Lakeside Casino & RV Park in Pahrump and Affinity's slot route operation (except for

Terrible Herbst Terrible Herbst, or Terrible Herbst Oil Company, is an American privately held filling station, gas station company based in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The company operates gas stations in Nevada, California, Utah and Arizona. History The ...

locations). The deal made Golden the largest employer and largest gaming operator in

Nye County Nye County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,591. Its county seat is Tonopah. At , Nye is Nevada's largest county by area and the third-largest county in the contiguous United States, behi ...

, and the largest slot route operator in Nevada, with about 8,500 machines in 650 locations, making up 45% of the market. Affinity in turn bought Golden's three casinos in Black Hawk, which were valued at a total of $76–92 million. Golden Gaming agreed in January 2015 to merge with

. Sartini would own 35% of the company and serve as its chief executive officer. The merger was completed on August 3, 2015, establishing Golden Entertainment. The company expanded into Montana in 2016, purchasing slot routes with 2,800 machines for a total of $45 million. In June 2017, Golden Entertainment was granted a license for slot route operations in Illinois. This marked the fourth state Golden is licensed. In October 2017, Golden Entertainment acquired

for $850 million, which expanded the company's casino portfolio by four: the

Stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is an atmospheric layer composed of stratified temperature layers, with the warm layers of air ...

Arizona Charlie's Boulder Arizona Charlie's Boulder is a 301-room hotel and a locals casino located in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Golden Entertainment. It is located on Boulder Highway between Boulder Station and Sam's Town. History A ...

Arizona Charlie's Decatur Arizona Charlie's Decatur is a 258-room hotel and casino with a locals casino in the Charleston Heights area of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Golden Entertainment. History Arizona Charlie's Decatur (and Arizona ...

and the

Aquarius Casino Resort The Aquarius Casino Resort (formerly Flamingo Hilton Laughlin and Flamingo Laughlin) is a hotel and casino located on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Golden Entertainment and is the largest hotel ...

. The following year, the company announced a $140 million renovation of the Stratosphere. In January 2019, the company bought the

Colorado Belle The Colorado Belle is a casino hotel on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada, owned and operated by Golden Entertainment. Initially closed on March 17, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on May 18, 2020, Golden Entertainment announc ...

and Edgewater casinos in

Laughlin, Nevada Laughlin is an unincorporated resort town and census-designated place in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is located on the Colorado River, directly across from the much larger Bullhead City, Arizona. Laughlin lies south of Las Vegas, i ...

from Marnell Gaming (owner and operator of

Nugget Casino Resort Nugget Casino Resort (formerly Dick Graves' Nugget and John Ascuaga's Nugget) is a casino hotel in Sparks, Nevada. It is operated by Century Casinos. The main portion of the casino consists of two 29-story towers nestled between Interstate 80 an ...

in Sparks) for $190 million. The acquisition of the Colorado Belle and Edgewater gives the company dominance in the market with three of 11 Laughlin properties, including the Aquarius.

Divisions

Golden Casino Group

Aerial view Casino Stratosphere LAS 09 2017 4912

—

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

— Las Vegas, Nevada *

Edgewater Hotel and Casino The Edgewater Hotel and Casino is a casino hotel on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada, owned and operated by Golden Entertainment. Facilities The hotel has 1,053 rooms divided between two towers: a large 26-story tower, Sedon ...

— Laughlin, Nevada *

Gold Town Casino Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

—

Pahrump, Nevada Pahrump ( ) is an unincorporated town located at the southernmost tip of Nye County, Nevada, United States, about west of Las Vegas, Nevada. Pahrump lies adjacent to the Nevada–California border and the area had a population of 44,738 as of ...

* Lakeside Hotel & Casino — Pahrump, Nevada * Pahrump Nugget Hotel & Gambling Hall — Pahrump, Nevada * Rocky Gap Resort Casino —

Flintstone, Maryland Flintstone is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Allegany County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 177. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Flintst ...

* The Strat Hotel, Casino and Skypod — Las Vegas, Nevada

Golden Route Operations

Slot route operator A Slot route operator is a company that owns and operates slot machines in several locations. By providing this service, many small businesses are able to provide slot machines that they could not otherwise afford to operate. As operators have gr ...

with over 9000 machines in Nevada and more than 2,800 games in Montana

PT's Entertainment Group

* PT's Gold ** Henderson (3 locations) ** Las Vegas (15 locations) * PT's Ranch ** Las Vegas (2 locations) * PT's Pub ** Henderson (5 locations) ** Las Vegas (17 locations) * PT's Brewing Co ** Las Vegas * Sean Patrick's ** Las Vegas (3 locations) ** North Las Vegas (1 location) * Sierra Gold ** Henderson (1 location) ** Las Vegas (3 locations) ** North Las Vegas (1 location) ** Reno (1 location) * SG Bar ** Las Vegas

Former

— Laughlin, Nevada * Golden Gates Casino —

Golden Gulch Casino Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall *Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...

— Black Hawk, Colorado * Golden Mardi Gras Casino — Black Hawk, Colorado

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2015 establishments in Nevada American companies established in 2015 Companies based in Enterprise, Nevada Companies listed on the Nasdaq Entertainment companies established in 2015 Gambling companies of the United States Hospitality companies established in 2015