US online gambling company Golden Nugget Online Gaming (GNOG) completed on Tuesday a previously announced merger with a special purpose acquisition company and is set to commence trading on NASDAQ later today, December 30.
GNOG was acquired by Landcadia Holdings II, Inc., a blank-check company formed last year by Texas businessman Tilman Fertitta and New York-based Jefferies Financial Group. Mr. Fertitta is also the owner of the Golden Nugget chain of casinos as well as of GNOG itself.
Landcadia shareholders voted in favor of the business combination at a special meeting held Tuesday. An original meeting was scheduled for December 18, but that one was adjourned because there were not enough investor votes to clear the tie-up.
After the proposed combination garnered enough shareholder support on Tuesday, Landcadia changed its name to Golden Nugget Online Gaming, Inc. The newly formed entity will go public on NASDAQ later today and will trade under the ticker symbol GNOG.
Mr. Fertitta and Jefferies formed Landcadia and took it public in 2019. The blank check company raised $316 million for an acquisition. News emerged in June that Mr. Fertitta’s online gaming and sports betting company would be its acquisition target.
US Expansion
Now as the SPAC merger was finalized, Mr. Fertitta will continue to serve as GNOG’s CEO and Chairman. Thomas Winter will retain his role as President of the online gambling company and the rest of the GNOG team will too continue in their previous roles.
Mr. Fertitta said that he is pleased the combination finally close and that they see “tremendous opportunity in the online gaming space and are excited to be a part of it.”
As a public company, GNOG will pursue expansion in various states where online gaming and sports betting are legal.
Last month, the company landed an important deal in Illinois as the state’s gambling market is in the middle of its biggest expansion in many years. GNOG partnered with Danville Development to form a joint venture and build a Golden Nugget-branded casino in the east-central Illinois town of Danville.
Under the terms of GNOG’s partnership with Danville Development, Mr. Fertitta’s company will exclusively offer online sports betting and digital casino products with the future casino.
It was in November again when GNOG penned a deal with Greenbrier Hotel Corporation to offer online gaming and sports betting with The Greenbrier casino resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
GNOG’s partnership with The Greenbrier secured the digital gambling operator with access to all four privately operated online gaming markets in the US, with New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania being the other three.
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