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Harrah's Entertainment

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Harrah's Entertainment

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Harrah's Entertainment

Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven golf courses under several brands. In 2013, it was the fourth-largest gambling company in the world, with annual revenues of $8.6 billion. It was acquired in 2020 by Eldorado Resorts, which then changed its own name to Caesars Entertainment.

At the end of its existence, Caesars was a public company, majority owned by a group of private equity firms led by Apollo Global Management, TPG Capital, and Paulson & Co. and Carl Icahn. Caesars' largest operating unit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2015, which led to the foundation of Vici Properties as a result.

The company's background can be traced to October 29, 1937, when Bill Harrah opened a small bingo parlor in Reno, Nevada, a predecessor to Harrah's Reno. In 1955, he expanded to Stateline, Nevada, on the south shore of Lake Tahoe, where he would eventually open Harrah's Lake Tahoe.

Harrah's Inc. made its initial public offering in 1971. In 1972, it was listed on the American Stock Exchange and in 1973, Harrah's became the first casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1978, Bill Harrah died at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, at the age of 66, during a cardiac surgery operation to repair an aortic aneurysm.

In February 1980, Holiday Inn acquired Harrah's, Inc. for $300 million. Liquidation of Harrah's collection of almost 7,000 antique automobiles reportedly returned the full purchase price of the company to Holiday Inn. Holiday Inn at the time had interests in two casinos: the under-construction Holiday Inn Marina Casino in Atlantic City, and a 40 percent stake in the Holiday Casino, adjacent to the Holiday Inn hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

In July 1987, Bill's Casino Lake Tahoe opened. Harrah's Laughlin opened in August 1988.

The company that would become Harrah's Entertainment was formed in 1990 as The Promus Companies. To effect the sale of the Holiday Inn hotel business to Bass PLC, Promus was created as a corporate spin-off, holding Harrah's, Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, and Hampton Inn; Bass then acquired Holiday Corp., which retained only the Holiday Inn assets. The next year, the company's headquarters moved from Reno to Memphis, Tennessee.[citation needed]

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