 | |
| Industry | Gaming Entertainment Hospitality |
|---|---|
| Founder | Jeff Jacobs |
| Headquarters | Golden, Colorado, U.S. |
Key people | Jeff Jacobs, Chairman & CEO |
| Products | Casinos Hotels Entertainment Restaurants |
| Website | jacobsentertainmentinc |
Jacobs Entertainment, Inc. is a gaming, hospitality, and entertainment company based in Golden, Colorado, with properties in Louisiana, Colorado, Nevada, and Ohio. [1]
The company was formed by Cleveland real estate developer and former Ohio state representative Jeff Jacobs. [2] [3] In 1995, it announced a joint venture with Black Hawk Gaming & Development to build a casino hotel in Black Hawk, Colorado. [4] Jacobs was also reported to be exploring gaming opportunities in 10 other states, as well as South Africa and Aruba. [2] Later that year, the company purchased 50 percent of Colonial Downs, a horse track under development in New Kent, Virginia, for $5 million, and was negotiating to purchase River Downs, an Ohio horse track. [5] [6]
In 1996, the company made a $9 million investment in the Boardwalk Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. [7]
The Lodge Casino, the company's $73-million joint venture with Black Hawk Gaming, opened in 1998, with Jacobs owning a 25 percent share. [8]
In 2002, Jacobs and his father, former Cleveland Indians owner Richard E. Jacobs, consolidated their gaming holdings into a reorganized Jacobs Entertainment, Inc., which simultaneously purchased all outstanding shares of Black Hawk Gaming & Development and Colonial Holdings. [9] The combined company at that point owned The Lodge Casino and The Gilpin Casino in Black Hawk; The Gold Dust West Casino in Reno, Nevada; Colonial Downs racetrack; and six truck stop casinos in Louisiana. [9]
The company applied for a license to operate a casino in Orange County, Indiana in 2003, but withdrew its bid in the face of stiff competition. [10] [11] It also made plans to develop a casino in D'Iberville, Mississippi, but pulled out of the project in 2004. [12]
Jacobs held discussions about buying New York racetrack Vernon Downs in 2005, and Casino Aztar Caruthersville in Missouri in 2007, but neither acquisition materialized. [13] [14]
In 2006, Jacobs spent over $2 million in support of an Ohio ballot measure that would have authorized the company to open a casino at the Nautica Entertainment Complex, owned by Jeffrey Jacobs. The measure would ultimately fail. [15] [16] In later years, Jacobs' expanded Cleveland properties would be collectively renamed as the Nautica Waterfront District.
Jacobs purchased the Piñon Plaza casino in Carson City, Nevada in 2006 for $14.5 million, and rebranded it as the Gold Dust West Carson City. [17] The company opened its third casino under the Gold Dust West name in Elko, Nevada in 2007. [18]
In 2008 and 2009, the company bought out the shares of Richard E. Jacobs, leaving his son as the sole owner. [19]
The company acquired the Nautica Entertainment Complex from Jeffrey Jacobs in phases between 2008 and 2012. [20] [21] [22] It then purchased the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, located in the complex, in 2014. [23]
Jacobs offered itself for sale to MTR Gaming in 2013 for $145 million in stock, but withdrew the offer after MTR agreed to be acquired by Eldorado Resorts. [24] [25] The Jacobses had begun purchasing shares in MTR Gaming in 2006, eventually accumulating an 18 percent stake in the company. [24] [26] Later in the year, Jacobs made a competing offer to buy MTR, and then withdrew it after Eldorado increased its offer. [25] [27]
Since 2008, Jacobs has pursued plans to develop a casino in Diamondhead, Mississippi. [28] The state gaming commission rejected the proposal in March 2017, but the company filed an appeal. [29]
Jacobs purchased the Sands Regency Casino Hotel in Reno, a few blocks away from the Gold Dust West Casino, for $30 million in July 2017. [30] [31] [32] The company soon began a $500-million plan to redevelop the corridor between the two casinos with mixed-use developments and retail and entertainment venues. [33] [34]
In April 2018, Jacobs sold Colonial Downs, which had been closed since 2014. The track was sold to Revolutionary Racing, a Chicago-based group of investors and gaming executives, for a price of more than $20 million. [35]
Nautica Waterfront District - West Bank of The Flats [36]
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