Who owns Ohio's casinos and racinos?

At nine of the eleven venues the operator and the property owner are different companies. Gaming and Leisure Properties owns five, VICI Properties owns four, and two have no separate landlord.

Which party holds the gaming licence?

The operator. That decides which games are permitted, who may deal, what the minimum age is and which regulator handles a complaint. A landlord holds a lease and a freehold and has no say in any of it.

Which Ohio venue is reported wrongly most often?

MGM Northfield Park, because two separate errors circulate about it. Material naming MGM Growth Properties as owner describes a company absorbed in 2022, and material naming MGM Resorts as owner has put the operator in the owner's slot.

How can I check an owner myself?

The operator is whoever the venue's own website says runs it, and that is the name on the licence. Property ownership appears in the real estate companies' own portfolio disclosures, which are public because both GLPI and VICI are listed companies.

Ohio Casino Owners: Why Operator and Landlord Differ

At nine of the eleven licensed Ohio venues, the company running the gaming business and the company owning the building are different companies. Listings print one “owner” line, which forces a choice between the two, and they rarely say which they chose.

This is not an Ohio quirk. Large American casino groups spun their real estate into separate listed companies during the 2010s, and the operating business now leases the property. The result is that a question as plain as “who owns Hollywood Casino Columbus” has two defensible answers.

The eleven Ohio venues grouped by property owner: five under Gaming and Leisure Properties, four under VICI Properties, and two with no separate landlord, each row naming the operator. — Property owner and operator for all eleven venues.

The Split, Venue by Venue

Gaming and Leisure Properties owns five: Hollywood Casino Columbus, Hollywood Casino Toledo, Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway, Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley and Belterra Park. PENN Entertainment operates the four Hollywood-branded venues. Boyd Gaming operates Belterra Park.

VICI Properties owns four: Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati, JACK Cleveland Casino, JACK Thistledown Racino and MGM Northfield Park. Hard Rock International operates the first; JACK Entertainment operates the next two; MGM Resorts International operates the fourth.

MGM Northfield Park is the one most often reported wrongly, and it is worth separating out. MGM Resorts International runs the gaming business. VICI owns the property, having absorbed MGM Growth Properties in 2022. Material naming MGM Growth as the owner is describing a company that no longer exists, and material naming MGM Resorts as the owner has the operator in the owner’s slot.

Two venues have no separate landlord. Miami Valley Gaming is a joint venture between Delaware North and Churchill Downs, which own and run it together. Caesars Entertainment both owns and operates Scioto Downs.

Why It Matters to a Reader

The operator holds the licence. That is the part that determines what happens on the floor: which games are permitted, who may deal, what the minimum age is, which regulator handles a complaint. A landlord holds a lease and a freehold and has no say in any of it.

So when the two are conflated, the practical information gets attached to the wrong party. A question about a game, a payout or an exclusion goes to the operator and to the regulator that licensed them. A question about the building goes nowhere useful for a visitor.

The Naming Problem Underneath

Three of the operator names in current use are recent. Penn National Gaming became PENN Entertainment. Eldorado Resorts was absorbed into Caesars in 2020, which is why Scioto Downs still appears widely as Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs. And “Dan Gilbert” turns up in listings as though it were a company, which it is not; the relevant operating entity is JACK Entertainment.

A listing that has not been revisited since 2019 will be wrong about at least one of those, and usually two.

How to Check It Yourself

The operator is whoever the venue’s own website says runs it, and that is the name on the licence. The property owner appears in the real estate company’s own portfolio disclosures, which are public because both GLPI and VICI are listed companies.

Those two sources will not always agree with each other in wording, and they do not have to. One describes an operating business, the other a lease.

Who Owns an Ohio Casino and Who Runs It: Two Different Companies