Making moves

It has been a busy few days for Golden Nugget-related news. Golden Nugget Online Gaming (GNOG) became the official casino partner of the Rocket Mortgage Classic PGA Tour event. The announcement on Wednesday revealed that the deal will be in place for the 2021 and 2022 renewals of the tournament.

official casino partner of the Rocket Mortgage Classic

Earlier this week, Fertitta Entertainment, the parent company of casino operator Golden Nugget and hospitality company Landry’s, announced an amendment to its planned merger with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) FAST Acquisition Corporation.

The two parties originally entered a merger agreement on February 1 for what is to become one of the biggest publicly traded hospitality companies in North America.

As part of the amendment, Fertitta Entertainment will now be including certain operating businesses that were not part of the original deal for no additional debt. These include a number of brands such as the Aquariums, Anthony’s, and Mastro’s. In all, there will be the addition of 42 business assets.

GNOG’s Rocket Mortgage Classic partnership

GNOG itself went public at the end of 2020 and has been focusing on expanding its operations across the United States. It is already up and running in Michigan, which might explain the partnership with the Rocket Mortgage Classic. This year’s tournament kicked off on Thursday at the Detroit Golf Club and will end on Sunday.

Many of the best players in the world are playing at the 2021 Rocket Mortgage Classic, including Bryson DeChambeau, Hideki Matsuyama, and Phil Mickelson. Speaking about the partnership, GNOG director of marketing Samir Banerjee said the company is “proud to partner with the prestigious Rocket Mortgage Classic golf tournament.”

GNOG is featuring branding on-site, as well as offer different types of perks to fans at the tournament. They include premier golf bags, odds boosts on certain bets, exclusive sportsbook and casino bonuses, plus hospitality upgrades.

Increasing the merger’s value

As part of the announced merger amendment, Fertitta Entertainment owner Tilman Fertitta will now get more equity in the NYSE-listed company, increasing his total equity position from the initially planned 60% to about 72%.

resulting entity up by another $2bn, rising to $8.6bn

The amendment reportedly will also move the enterprise value of the resulting entity up by another $2bn, rising to $8.6bn. Some of the assets that will be under this entity’s control will include five land-based casinos, in addition to significant ownership in GNOG.

Speaking about some of the reasons behind the latest amendment to the merger deal, Tilman Fertitta said that the addition of business assets “greatly improves the company’s operating cash flow, provides better assets for organic growth, and significantly deleverages the company as no incremental debt is being incurred by the company as part of the revised transaction.”