Golden Entertainment is moving toward private ownership after shareholders approved the company’s master transaction agreement with Blake Sartini and VICI Properties at a special meeting held on March 31. Golden said the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and the remaining closing conditions.
Once the transaction closes, Golden will no longer be publicly traded. The company said its shares will be delisted from Nasdaq and deregistered under the Securities Exchange Act, ending its run as a listed gaming operator.
The deal splits Golden into operating and property pieces
This is not a simple buyout. The transaction separates Golden’s operating business from a chunk of its real estate. VICI previously disclosed that it agreed to acquire the land, real property, and improvements of seven Golden casino assets for $1.16 billion, then lease them back under a new master lease to an entity controlled by Blake Sartini.
Those seven assets are The STRAT, Arizona Charlie’s Decatur, Arizona Charlie’s Boulder, Aquarius, Edgewater, Pahrump Nugget, and Lakeside. VICI says the new lease will start at $87 million in annual rent, run for 30 years, and include four five-year renewal options. Rent steps up 2% a year starting in lease year three.
Shareholders get cash now and VICI stock later
Golden shareholders are getting paid through two parts of the transaction. SEC materials say the operating-company sale supports a $2.75-per-share cash distribution to shareholders. The property-side merger then converts each Golden share into 0.902 shares of VICI stock, with cash paid instead of fractional shares.
That means investors are not simply being cashed out of Golden. They are being moved into a structure where Sartini takes control of the operating business while VICI becomes the real estate owner and Golden shareholders keep exposure through stock in the landlord.
Sartini and VICI are each getting what they want
For Sartini, the transaction secures direct control of the operating side of a business he already knows closely. For VICI, it adds seven more Nevada properties to a real estate portfolio that has grown by buying gaming assets and leasing them back under long contracts with predictable rent streams.
The shareholder vote was the big internal hurdle, and it is now out of the way. What remains is execution. If regulators sign off and the parties hit the closing conditions, Golden will disappear from the public market in the second quarter and reappear as two things at once: a privately held operating company and a new set of VICI-backed gaming properties under lease.
