Lakes Entertainment Inc. was created in 1998 as part of the merger between Grand Casinos and Hilton's gaming businesses to form Park Place Entertainment. Park Place received Grand's three riverboat casinos in Mississippi, while Grand's other businesses, including management of Indian casinos, were spun off as Lakes Gaming. The name was changed to Lakes Entertainment in 2002 to reflect the company's involvement in the World Poker Tour and other non-casino businesses.
In January 2015, Lakes agreed to merge with Golden Gaming. The combined company would be named Golden Entertainment. Golden Gaming head Blake Sartini would own 35% of the company and serve as its chief executive officer, while Lakes head Lyle Berman would be a board member and consultant.
Golden Entertainment, Inc. owns and operates gaming properties across two divisions – distributed gaming and casino operations. Golden Entertainment operates more than 12,000 gaming devices and nearly 30 table games in Nevada, Maryland and Montana. Golden is also licensed to manage video gaming terminals in Illinois. The Company owns four casino properties, more than 50 taverns and operates approximately 980 distributed gaming locations in multiple jurisdictions. Golden Entertainment is focused on leveraging its scale, market leadership and proven management capabilities to maximize profitability of its operations and value for its shareholders.
