Bally’s Selling Rhode Island Casino for $735 Million, Will Lease Back Property
Posted on: September 16, 2025, 12:21h.
Last updated on: September 16, 2025, 12:28h.
- Property is one of two Rhode Island casinos operated by Bally’s
- The company previously executed a similar transaction with its Tiverton casino
- Gaming and Leisure Properties is buying the property and it will lease it back to Bally’s
Bally’s is selling the property assets of its Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort in Lincoln, RI to Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ: GLPI) for $735 million — a move that will assist the seller in paring debt.
The regional casino operator runs both of the land-based gaming venues in the state. With the help of the sale-leaseback (SLB) on the Lincoln property, Bally’s landed an extension of a $460 million revolving credit facility to Oct. 1, 2028. That loan was originally scheduled to come due on Oct. 1, 2026. By way of the Lincoln deal, the gaming company also reached a deal with creditors to slash debt.
Bally’s has agreed with its RCF lenders, that upon completion of the SLB Transaction, Bally’s will take actions to reduce secured debt and credit facilities outstanding by an aggregate amount of $500 million, with first a permanent reduction of outstanding RCF commitments by 7.5%, to approximately $574 million,” according to a statement.
Owned by hedge fund Standard General, Bally’s noted that when it receives consent from holders of $630 million of term loans — or a third of the operator’s amount outstanding — that will be sufficient to move forward with the real estate sale.
Rhode Island Casino Sale Not Surprising Move by Bally’s
Bally’s decision to sell the property of Twin River Lincoln isn’t surprising because the operator reached an agreement with GLPI in 2022 to divest the real estate of its two Rhode Island casinos to the real estate investment trust (REIT).
Under the terms of that deal, GLPI had rights to acquire Twin River Lincoln by Sept. 30, 2026. Execution of that transaction is a key part of ratings agencies’ dim views on Bally’s, and if there are issues that stand in the way of that deal, the seller’s financial flexibility could be hampered, potentially triggering a ratings downgrade.
Neither Bally’s nor GLPI speculated on whether or not the gaming company’s creditors will approve the deal, but they may be compelled to do so because the influx of cash will go a long way toward paring Bally’s outstanding obligations.
“If the SLB Transaction is consummated, based upon the agreed amendments with Bally’s RCF lenders, and if similarly ratified by Bally’s term loan lenders, the combined outstanding balances of Bally’s term loans and first lien notes is expected to be reduced from approximately $2.4 billion to approximately $1.94 billion,” according to the press release.
Bally’s, GLPI Extend Relationship
In recent years, Bally’s engaged in an array of sale-leaseback transactions with GLPI to the point that the latter is now the former’s primary landlord, though Bally’s retains ownership of some of the real estate on which some of its casinos reside.
The REIT is also the primary financier of Bally’s $1.7 billion Chicago integrated resort — the operator’s priciest project to date.
Sale-leasebacks are popular in the gaming industry because the transactions allow the sellers to monetize real estate holdings while maintaining operational control of the properties in question. The downside is that the sellers are taking on long-term liabilities in the form of lengthy lease agreements in exchange for upfront payments. It’s believed Bally’s will be paying GLPI $58.8 million in annual rent on the Lincoln property, exclusive of escalators.
Last Comments ( 3 )
Just nine reviews posted on Tripadvisor in 12 months? Oh my. Take a quick (?) look at the 183 customer reviews posted on Google in the past, wait for it, 30 days! Disregard any that whine about the smoking. Hey, it's a casino!
The biggest winner here is GLPI. In the big picture, it doesn't matter who the tenant is, as long as they have the ability to make the month rent payment. So if Bally's goes belly-up (still a possibility), all GLPI needs to do is find another casino operator to run the place. All of this only becomes a problem for GLPI if (and when) they're unable to entice some other casino operator to the property. I know I'm in a very small minority on this, but I'm with casino.org's own Scott Roeben in saying the A's stadium in Las Vegas will never get completed for as long as the team remains under the ownership of John Fisher. Also, whatever casino resort that is built on the former Tropicana site will never be built by Bally's. They'll inevitably reach the day in which they sell off that parcel to further reduce their debt and obtain funds for the project in Chicago.
GLPI did most of their due diligence before deciding to buy Bally's Twin River Lincoln Casino Resort in Lincoln, RI. Perhaps they just overlooked scanning through those nine customer reviews of the property that were posted on Tripadvisor in the past 12 months. One of the nine reviews is quite charming. The others? Not so much.