Penn National Gaming severs ties with California tribal casino

Regional casino operator Penn National Gaming (PNG) has severed ties with a California tribal casino operation after the tribe failed to honor its financial commitments.

On Thursday, PNG informed the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that its subsidiary San Diego Gaming Ventures (SDGV) would no longer manage the Hollywood Casino Jamul-San Diego or provide branding and development services to the property, which was PNG’s only California-based operation. The wind-down is expected to finish by May 28.

The casino is owned by Jamul Indian Village Development (JIVDC), a company founded by the Jamul Village of California tribe. The $460m property opened in October 2016 on the tribe’s East County reservation about 20 miles outside San Diego but has so far struggled to attract sufficient customer traffic.

SDGV made an initial loan of $98m to the tribe to spur the casino’s development and provided future funding commitments that amounted to $29m as of December 31, 2017.