Shareholders of Golden Entertainment have approved a deal to take the casino operator private in a transaction involving Chief Executive Blake L. Sartini and VICI Properties.
The approval was granted at a special meeting, where the master transaction agreement received 20.4 million votes in favour, compared with 208,131 against and 20,158 abstentions. Additional proposals, including executive compensation tied to the deal, also passed despite drawing 2.3 million votes against.
The transaction, first announced earlier, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Upon completion, Golden Entertainment will cease to be publicly traded, with its shares delisted from Nasdaq and deregistered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
The deal values the company at $30 per share, representing a 40% premium to its closing price on November 5. Shareholders will receive approximately 0.9 shares of VICI Properties stock and about $2.75 in cash for each share held.
As part of the transaction, Golden Entertainment will sell seven casino real estate assets to VICI Properties in a sale-leaseback arrangement. The assets include The STRAT Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, two Arizona Charlie’s properties in Las Vegas, as well as properties in Laughlin and Pahrump, Nevada.
“I believe this transaction maximises value for our shareholders by providing a significant premium to our current share price,” Sartini said.
“We are pleased to combine our high-quality Nevada casino real estate with one of the most attractive experiential real estate platforms in the country and partner together to unlock value in our company and explore future opportunities,” he added.
Golden Entertainment operates eight casinos and 73 gaming taverns in Nevada, with around 5,500 slot machines, 80 table games and approximately 6,000 hotel rooms.
“Since founding Golden in 2001, I have focused on providing exceptional service to our guests on the Las Vegas Strip, in our Nevada regional resorts, local casinos and at our market leading taverns,” Sartini said.
“This mission will remain unchanged and I am incredibly honoured to lead Golden’s 5,000 employees into the next stage of our evolution as a private company.”
VICI Properties, an S&P 500 real estate investment trust, owns 93 experiential assets, including 54 gaming properties, with a portfolio spanning about 127 million square feet and roughly 60,300 hotel rooms.
Golden Entertainment recently reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of -$0.33, missing analyst expectations of $0.17, while revenue of $155.6 million also fell short of forecasts. Analysts expect the company to return to profitability this year.
The company will disclose the final voting results from the special meeting in a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
