Caesars Entertainment Corp. will resurface from bankruptcy this year after nearly a decade of struggles with unsustainable debt dating back to the financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Now it faces a new challenge: How to grow when gambling is already within driving distance of virtually every American, and even international development prospects have diminished. Caesars expects shareholders to vote on a plan to emerge from bankruptcy by late September, and executives in recent weeks have begun offering their vision for the company’s future. Having extinguished $10 billion in debt following a brutal bankruptcy reorganization, Caesars will have the balance sheet to pursue acquisitions and new investments in the way that rivals such as MGM Resorts International have done in recent years. But the reconstituted Caesars faces hurdles that illuminate how much the world of casino gambling has shifted since the company was purchased in a disastrously timed 2008 private-equity buyout.
