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The Call @ Hedgeye | March 19, 2024
(previously posted under Keith McCullough: 06/03/08 10:33 AM EST)


Yesterday, Ameristar (ASCA) CEO John Boushy resigned to pursue other interests . Hopefully, those interests do not include topping his own record for the worst casino property acquisition ever.

Luckily, for him, in the current environment sellers are probably willing to unload casino assets for under the 12x EBITDA Mr. Boushy and Ameristar paid for Resorts East Chicago. This acquisition was so bad that even private equity was unwilling to hand over $675 million in April 2007 for an asset in a market with increasing supply.

Of course, ASCA was still smarting over its loss to Columbia Sussex in the bidding war for Aztar in 2006, which rates as probably the worst Private Equity gaming company acquisition ever.