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Creditors of Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s casino business are heading to court on Monday to argue that the company has been bankrupt for three days longer than it acknowledges, and $468 million hangs on the outcome, Reuters reported yesterday. The battle stems from how the casino operator wound up in bankruptcy in the first place. Creditors hope to convince U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar in Chicago that the process began on Jan. 12 in Delaware. That was the day that Appaloosa and two other hedge funds filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against the company. Three days later, the operating unit of Caesars, which was formed by the 2008 buyout of Harrah's Entertainment, filed its own Chapter 11 in Chicago, and the Delaware judge transferred his case to Goldgar. The law allows creditors to attack certain transactions dated within 90 days before a bankruptcy filing so they can claw back cash. If the judge considers the Jan. 12 bankruptcy date valid, unsecured creditors could challenge an October deal granting Caesars' senior creditors a lien on $468 million in cash.

An advocacy group within Illinois’s horse-racing industry is fighting to save live racing at the financially struggling Maywood Park track for the rest of the year, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The Illinois Harness Horseman’s Association is fighting a court battle against racetrack officials, who are proposing to cancel harness horse races after Oct. 3, arguing that the closure would unfairly force “an immediate eviction” of more than 100 horses and about 50 people who live in dorms at the track in Chicago’s Melrose Park suburb. In court papers, Maywood Park officials told a bankruptcy judge that closing early would save $165,000 in track maintenance costs, manure removal, security and other operating costs. Displaced horsemen and their families, they added, could move to a nearby sister race track, Balmoral Racing Club, which has stables for more than 1,000 horses.

Donald Trump's Trump Organization is considering making a play for the bankrupt golf and country club in Puerto Rico that bears his name, according to the club's bankruptcy lawyer, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. Lawyer Charles Cuprill, who is representing the owner of the Trump International Golf Club in Puerto Rico, told a bankruptcy judge on Tuesday that the Republican presidential candidate's company has signed a confidentiality agreement and has requested information about the assets to be sold in order to conduct due diligence. A $2 million offer from OHorizons Global LLC is the lead bid for the club, which is home to two 18-hole championship golf courses designed by golfer Tom Kite that have hosted the Puerto Rico Open golf tournament. If rival bids are received by the Nov. 16 deadline, an auction will be held on Nov. 23.

Caesars Entertainment Corp. seeks to challenge a court ruling it claims would halt out-of-court debt restructurings while defending its decision to abandon a bond repayment pledge, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The casino owner, which is fighting to avoid being forced into bankruptcy alongside its main operating unit, wants to immediately appeal a judge’s finding that companies cannot impose changes to bond terms that leave creditors with no way to collect. Caesars claims that the judge set too high a standard for out-of-court restructurings. The bid by Caesars stems from a lawsuit winding its way through New York federal court. In it, bondholders claim Caesars violated the federal Trust Indenture Act by abandoning a repayment pledge as part of a restructuring. Caesars argued that its contract with bondholders allowed it to scrap a promise to guarantee payment on $7 billion in debt under certain circumstances. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan said she needs more evidence before deciding whether Caesars broke the law.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled yesterday that a legal battle between junior and senior creditors of the bankrupt division of Caesars Entertainment Corp. should be heard in Chicago rather than New York, Reuters reported yesterday. The chapter 11 filing by the largest casino operator in the U.S., Caesars Entertainment Operating Company, Inc. (CEOC), has been marked by bitter feuding among creditors over everything from when, where and how the bankruptcy was filed. In this case, senior creditors led by Credit Suisse had sought to pursue a lawsuit against junior creditors, including units of Appaloosa Management and Oaktree Capital Management, in New York rather than Chicago, where CEOC filed for bankruptcy. Judge Scheindlin agreed with the junior creditors that it would be more efficient and would likely help resolve the bankruptcy case to send the Credit Suisse case to Chicago.

The bankrupt division of Caesars Entertainment Corp. has asked a judge to approve the sale of property at the failed Harrah's Tunica Casino in Mississippi, which shut down last year amid tough local competition and a slump in gambling, Reuters reported yesterday. Casino operator Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., currently in chapter 11 with $18 billion of debt, had been trying to sell the Tunica casino for two years before eventually closing its doors. Stalking horse bidder TJM Properties Inc., a Florida real estate investment firm that develops senior living facilities, is seeking to buy the Tunica property for $3 million cash, bankruptcy filings showed. If Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar approves the sale process, other interested parties must submit qualified bids by a final deadline of 4 p.m. CET on Oct 24. An auction, if needed, has been set for Oct. 28 and a hearing to approve the sale will be held on Nov. 2.

A judge in the Bahamas said on Friday that a liquidator could take control of the stalled Baha Mar resort project, but limited the official’s powers, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Justice Ian Winder of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas, taking the middle ground in the ruling read in court on Friday, appointed a liquidator specifically for the purpose of preserving the $3.5 billion project’s assets, rather than authorizing the liquidator to develop a plan for the project’s completion. Justice Winder also set a Nov. 2 hearing date to consider the request of the owner of the project to have the Bahamian insolvency proceeding thrown out completely. The owner of the project, known as Baha Mar Ltd., had opposed a Bahamian government request for the appointment of a liquidator and has proceeded instead with a restructuring process in the U.S. under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.