The news has been relatively flush with announced or rumored casino mergers and acquisitions. While the industry is familiar with the gaming-related regulatory scrutiny that comes with such transactions, antitrust reviews may be more of a mystery. But casino executives and in-house counsel should be prepared for antitrust scrutiny when pursuing casino M&A. Indeed, the Federal Trade Commission, which is the antitrust agency in the U.S. responsible for reviewing casino (and gaming) mergers and acquisitions, has been actively investigating casino mergers. In the last few years alone, the FTC has required divestitures before two mergers could close1 and forced casino operators to abandon a contemplated acquisition.
But antitrust review isn’t a crapshoot. This article explains how the FTC analyzes casino mergers and what operators can do to preliminarily assess the antitrust risks of a contemplated transaction.