Former Centaur executives launch a new business by buying casinos

A group of former executives of Centaur Gaming have launched a new business by acquiring two casinos in northwest Indiana. The new company, christened Spectacle Entertainment, has plans to relocate the gaming licenses. The company has acquired Majestic Holdco LLC, the owner of Majestic Star Casino and the Majestic Star Casino II, both located on Lake Michigan’s Buffington Harbor in Gary, for an undisclosed sum.

Rod Ratcliff, former chairman and CEO of Centaur Gaming, and John Keeler, the former general counsel for Centaur, are behind the new venture. Ratcliff is the CEO of Spectacle and Keeler is the general counsel for Spectacle.

 Centaur sold its two horse track casinos near Indianapolis—Hoosier Park in Anderson and Indiana Grand in Shelbyville—to Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment Corp. earlier this year for $1.7 billion. The two casinos are among the biggest in the state, with Indiana Grand seeing nearly $276 million in total “win,” which is gambling revenue after payouts, in fiscal year 2018, and Hoosier Park generating about $209 million in total win.

Keeler laughed when asked why they decided to pursue a new casino business so shortly after the Caesars transaction.

“It seemed like a really good opportunity that came along,” Keeler said. “The more and more we looked at it, the more and more intrigued we were.”

Majestic Star and Majestic Star II are among the smallest casinos in the state though—Majestic Star ranked third lowest in total win with $92.2 million in 2018, and Majestic Star II ranked second lowest with $59.8 million.

“There’s been a steady decline of the revenues of those two boats from their inception to now,” Keeler said.

Spectacle has plans to relocate one casino within Gary and shift the other license to somewhere else in the state.