Twin River Will Rename Isle of Capri Kansas City, Put $61 Million Into Refurbishing Casino

Posted on: July 22, 2020, 09:30h. 

Last updated on: July 22, 2020, 11:53h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

Twin River Worldwide Holdings (NYSE:TRWH) has plans for the recently acquired Isle of Capri Casino in Kansas City, Mo., including a name change.

Twin Rivers Changing Isle of Capri Name
A rendering of the Casino KC, Twin River’s planned changes for the Isle of Capri. (Image: Kansas City Star)

Rhode Island-based TRWH will rename the gaming property “Casino KC” and allocate $61 million to enhancing the riverboat casino, including the addition of a land-based structure. The company discussed plans for the venue at a meeting of the Port Authority of Kansas City earlier this week. The Port Authority acts as the landlord for local riverboat gaming entities.

The land-based facility will house all the non-gaming activities and include branded restaurants, our future sportsbook, and retail, and will link the existing parking structure to the Casino, which will provide a much better sense of arrival and an overall better customer experience,” said TRWH CEO George Papanier in remarks to The Kansas City Star.

Papanier mentioning a sportsbook implies confidence that the Show Me State will approve sports betting legislation, which hasn’t happened yet. Industry observers believe Missouri will eventually join the roster of legal sports wagering states. But that effort was set back this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sprucing Up a Laggard

The Kansas City market is home to four gaming venues – the Isle of Capri, or soon-to-be Casino KC, Harrah’s in North Kansas City, the Ameristar Casino, and the Argosy Casino. Harrah’s is operated by Caesars Entertainment, the seller of Isle of Capri to TRWH, while Boyd Gaming operates the Ameristar and Penn National Gaming runs the Argosy.

TRWH has its work cut out for it with Isle of Capri, because the venue is the laggard of the quartet in the Kansas City area. For the 12 months ending June 30, 2020, the property attracted just 1.34 million visits, or less than half the 3.25 million notched at Ameristar, according to data from the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC).

MGC data indicate that over that period, admissions at Harrah’s topped 2.64 million, while visits to Argosy were just over 2.40 million.

During those 12 months, Isle of Capri’s average win per patron was $73.46, well behind the average of almost $94 for Ameristar, Argosy, and Harrah’s.

Pivotal in a Bigger Deal

In June 2019, TRWH announced it would pay $230 million to purchase the Isle of Capri Kansas City and the Lady Luck Casino in Vicksburg, Miss. from the company formerly known as Eldorado Resorts (ERI).

Later, the change in ownership of the Missouri venue became pivotal in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approving ERI’s takeover of Caesars Entertainment. The FTC wanted the Kansas City casino sold because it was concerned about concentration risk in that market. Caesars operates Harrah’s there. The FTC recently approved the sale to Twin River, and ERI became Caesars Entertainment earlier this week.

Now, TRWH and the soon-to-be Casino KC will go head-to-head with Caesars, the company that sold the property.

At the time of the purchase, Casino KC’s gaming area is 40,000 square feet, with 13 table games and 939 slot machines.