CINCINNATI — Hard Rock International has agreed to purchase and operate Jack Casino in Cincinnati and Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, according to a media release. ﻿TRENDING: Man, 23, who claimed to be missing child from Illinois, booked in area jail The transaction, worth $780 million, is expected to be completed sometime later this year and requires regulatory approval both on the federal and state level, officials said. ﻿LOCAL WEATHER: Track the latest conditions with Live Doppler 7 Radar “We chose to sell to Hard Rock, in large part, due to its great culture and quality of its leadership,” Matt Cullen, Chief Executive Officer of Jack Entertainment said in the release. “We are confident that Hard Rock and its world-renowned brand will be a great addition to the Queen City and the right choice to take Jack Cincinnati Casino and Turfway Park to the next level of growth.” The casino will remain open during the sale and transition. Operations at the other two Jack Entertainment properties, Jack Cleveland Casino and Jack Thistledown Racino south of Cleveland, will remain owned and operated by Jack Entertainment. We’ll update this story as new details as they become available.<doc-sep>CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ohio’s casino industry deck will be shuffled again, with a $780 million deal announced Friday for JACK Entertainment to sell its Cincinnati casino along with Turfway Park in Kentucky to Hard Rock International and VICI Properties. This is the second selloff in the last year for JACK, which in November announced a $1 billion agreement to sell its Detroit Greektown Casino-Hotel for $1 billion to Penn National Gaming. But the agreement marks a quick return to Ohio for Hard Rock. The Hard Rock Rocksino in Northfield was sold in July to MGM Properties for $1 billion. That racino this week was renamed MGM Northfield Park, with a ceremonial grand opening set for next Tuesday. Under the deal announced for JACK Cincinnati and Turfway Park, Hard Rock is to begin operating those facilities under lease arrangements with VICI late this year. Staying put in Cleveland Yet JACK has decided to hold onto its casino in downtown Cleveland and racino at Thistledown in the Cleveland suburb of North Randall. “Our plan is to own, operate and invest in those properties,” JACK Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Matt Cullen said during a telephone interview with cleveland.com. “We think this is the close of that chapter” of exploring possible sales. Cullen said the company viewed the Cleveland casino as a natural tie to investments in the renovation of Quicken Loans Arena just blocks away and the Cavs basketball team. The Cavs and JACK Entertainment are part of of the collection of companies led by Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert. “It’s a competitive market," Cullen said when asked about the entry of MGM to Northeast Ohio, "but our properties represent more than 50 percent of the market. ... Part of our initial campaign was to be part of the heart of downtown Cleveland - bring visitors in. We feel good about our position.” The former Hard Rock Rocksino, now MGM Northfield Park, was Ohio’s leading racino or casino last year, with $256 million in slots revenue after paying out winnings. The two JACK properties in the Cleveland area combined for $332 million - $205 million at the downtown casino and $127 million at Thistledown. The Cincinnati property being sold had gambling revenue of $204 million last year. JACK’s selloff of Cincinnati and Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, will leave it with the two Cleveland operations; plus JACK is a partner with Caesars Entertainment in Horseshoe Baltimore. Ohio’s casino, racino history Gilbert’s involvement in Ohio casinos traces to 2009, when interests tied almost entirely to Gilbert and those of Penn National Gaming spent $47 million on a campaign to win voter approval amending the state constitution to allow four Ohio casinos. Ohio’s first casino opened in Cleveland in May 2012, a partnership between Gilbert-related companies and Caesars. It initially operated under the Horseshoe name. The same partnership opened the Cincinnati Horseshoe Casino a year later in March 2013. In 2015, Rock Ohio Ventures bought Caesars’ 20 percent stake. Then JACK Entertainment was formed to rebrand and operate the properties under the JACK name. While voters in 2009 approved just four casinos - one each in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo - state officials quickly widened the gambling landscape by authorizing the opening of racinos at horse tracks throughout the state. The first of the racinos opened at Scioto Downs near Columbus in June 2012, just one month after the Cleveland casino opened. Unlike the racinos, Ohio’s casinos are permitted to operate table games and wider range of slot machines. There are now seven racinos and four casinos in Ohio. Statewide gambling revenue, after paying out winnings, totaled $1.86 billion last year. About one-third of this money is turned over to the state as taxes for the casinos or the Ohio Lottery Commission as fees for the racinos. Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. Find casino coverage at cleveland.com/casino.<doc-sep>
JACK Entertainment to sell JACK Casino to Hard Rock International, pending approval Share Shares Copy Link Copy Hide Transcript Show Transcript HARD ROCK CAFE, HAS REACHED A DEAL WITH JACK CASINO. AND DECIDED TO TAKE A CALCULATED GAMBLE. HARD ROCK INTERNATIONAL IS BETTING THE HOUSE, BY BUYING THE HOUSE, BOTH JACK CASIO A TURFWAY PARK. >> OBVIOUSLY, THERE’S A LOT OF HOPE ABOUT WHAT THE BIG CHANGES MIGHT BE. >> CHAD BARNHILL IS THE GENERAL MANAGER OF JACK CASINO AND WILL STAY ON TO DO THE SAME JOB FOR HARD ROCK. HE’S ALREADY GETTING THE QUESTION. >> THE MOST FREQUENT QUESTION I RECEIVED IS, ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE A HARD ROCK CAFE. WE’LL BE EXCITED WHEN THE HARD ROCK TEAM GETS INTO TOWN AND STARTS ANNOUNCING THEIR FUTURE PLANS. >> NO DETAILS YET ON EXACTLY WHAT CHANGES COULD BE IN STORE. IT’S A $780 MILLION AGREEMENT, JACK SELLS TO HARD ROCK AND VICI PROPERTIES. VICI WILL OWN THE PROPERTIES AND WORK OUT A LEASE AGREEMENT WITH HARD ROCK. THE OTHER MAJOR QUESTION IS WHAT HAPPENS TO TURFWAY PARK. >> I THINK IT’S GREAT, ANYTHING TO IMPROVE TURFWAY PARK. I’M A LOCAL GUY AND I’M ANXIOUS TO SEE >> THOSE WHO GO TO THE PARK WANT TO SEE IF THE NEW OWNERSHIP MEANS IMPROVEMENTS. >> TURFWAY IS GETTING KIND OF RUN DOWN. HOPEFULLY, THEY PUT SOME MONEY IN IT AND MAKE IT NICER. >> NO ONE’S TAKING ANY BETS ON THAT JUST YET. THE DEAL HAS TO BE APPROVED BY FEDERAL AND STATE AUTHORITIES, ASSUMING IT GOES THOUGH, WE WON’T SEE THE HARD ROCK SIGNS GO UP UNTIL L GET LOCAL BREAKING NEWS ALERTS The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. Submit Privacy Notice