MGM Selling Ohio Casino to Clairvest for $546 Million
Posted on: October 16, 2025, 11:23h.
Last updated on: October 16, 2025, 11:38h.
- MGM is unloading an Ohio casino/racetrack to private equity funds for $546 million
- Rumor of sale dates back to Q1 of 2024
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) announced Thursday that it’s selling the operating rights of the MGM Northfield Park racino near Cleveland to private equity funds controlled by Clairvest Group for $546 million in cash.
Las Vegas-based MGM said it expects to haul in after-tax proceeds of $420 million. The transaction is slated to close in the first half of next year. The purchase price represents 6.6x the venue’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for the 12 months ending June 30, 2025.
This is an excellent result for MGM Resorts and demonstrates consistency in driving transaction multiples at meaningful premiums over where MGM Resorts currently trades. The divestiture underscores MGM Resorts’ exceptional financial stewardship, delivering substantial value well beyond the original acquisition price,” said MGM CFO Jonathan Halkyard in a statement.
With $420 million in after-tax proceeds, MGM is turning a decent profit on Northfield Park. MGM Growth Properties, the real estate investment trust (REIT) previously spun off from the casino operator, bought the Ohio casino in 2018. A year later, MGM bought the operating rights for $275 million, rebranding the venue with the MGM name.
Ohio Casino Sale Ends an Old Rumor
News of Northfield Park’s sale marks the end of an old. Rumor speculation about the fate of the Ohio property and MGM Springfield in Massachusetts surfaced in the first quarter of 2024, but no deal-making occurred until today.
It’s not clear if MGM Springfield, which opened in August 2018 as the first traditional casino in Massachusetts, is still on the block, but executives have previously said the venue has disappointed in terms of revenue. In Ohio, the seller appears to have struck a notable deal.
“The sale multiple of 6.6x represents the highest transaction multiple for a single asset regional opco since COVID. When applying MGM’s cost of capital to the rent ascribed with this transaction, the wholeco valuation would approximate 10x,” said Jefferies analyst David Katz in a note to clients today.
The transaction could be viewed as encouraging for another reason, as it shows there’s still appetite among buyers for regional gaming assets despite interest rates remaining elevated — something believed to be putting a damper on casino industry consolidation.
MGM Will Save Some Money, Too
MGM isn’t just reaping a windfall by selling Northfield Park. The operator will also be saving some cash when the deal is finalized.
As part of the sale, MGM’s master lease agreement with VICI Properties (NYSE: VICI) — the owner of Northfield Park’s real estate — will be amended to reduce the operator’s annual lease obligations to the REIT by $54 million.
VICI acquired the Ohio racino’s property assets when it bought MGM Growth Properties for $17.2 billion in 2022.
Last Comment ( 1 )
MGM seriously dropped the ball with their Springfield (MA) property. It's far too small and fails as a "destination" property. While they had the novelty of being the first casino to open in Massachusetts, there was nothing "novel" about their property. Two long-running, larger, truly destination full-resort casinos (Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun) were already operating in Connecticut. A couple of years later Encore opened in Boston, and has consistently ranked as one of the highest grossing casinos in the country. New Hampshire now has about a dozen small casinos located throughout the state, and Bally's has a large casino just outside of Providence. Anyone that needs to scratch the gaming itch has plenty of options that are closer to them than driving to Springfield. Mohegan and Foxwoods still get a large number of customers from the greater NYC area (although that will probably decrease as new NYC casinos get up and running). MGM Springfield has done absolutely nothing to differentiate themselves from the competition, and create an incentive for people to visit that property instead of the gaming options closer to them - and they have nothing to offer that competes with the full-service resort options of Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods, and (to a lesser extent) Encore. Simply put, there is no there, there. MGM needs to dump this disappointment, tuck their tail between their legs, and go back to nickel-and-diming folks in Las Vegas.