INDIANA NEWS

The Indiana Gaming Commission agreed Thursday to transfer a company's license to operate Casino Aztar in Evansville to another company pending a final sale between the two.

Eldorado Resorts LLC of Reno, Nev., agreed in March to buy the Ohio River casino from Tropicana Entertainment for as much as $245 million.

But the deal was squelched when Tropicana declared bankruptcy on the casino the following month. Under terms of the earlier purchase agreement, the casino had to be put up for sale a second time.

But a bidding deadline passed Oct. 31 without any other potential buyers coming forward.

Eldorado has kept its offer open, and Tropicana spokesman Hud Englehart said Thursday that the company wants to sell the casino to Eldorado. He said to the best of his knowledge, that sale would be under the same terms as the initial offer.

But Englehart said a federal bankruptcy court in Delaware must first approve the sale strategy and then dismiss Aztar from bankruptcy for the proposed deal to go through.

Court hearings on those matters are scheduled for next week. Englehart declined to speculate on how they would turn out.

Gary Carano, president of Eldorado Resorts, said he was confident that the company could obtain the necessary financing to buy Aztar and was hopeful that everything would fall in place to finalize a sale.

"We are very excited about owning Aztar," he said.

Ernie Yelton, executive director of the Gaming Commission, said the commission found Eldorado to be a suitable company to get the Aztar license, and if it remained in good standing, a sale takes place and title to the property is exchanged, the license for Eldorado would become effective.

At that point, he said, Eldorado "can just go in and start gaming immediately."

Tropicana Entertainment is an affiliate of Columbia Sussex, a hotel company based in Crestview Hills, Ky.