Hilton, Park Place consider new bids for KC casino

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Trumpster, it seems, is about to get trumped.

Park Place Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas, the company handling the sale of the Flamingo Hilton Casino in Kansas City, said Thursday that it was considering new bids for the pink gambling emporium, which Donald Trump had earlier agreed to buy for $15 million.

As part of the agreement reached in January, Trump's company or Hilton was allowed to walk away from the deal if it didn't close by midnight Aug. 31.

Now, with Trump's licensing approval stalled at the Missouri Gaming Commission, Park Place is entertaining new suitors.

"We've advised the Trump organization and the Missouri Gaming Commission that the deadline has passed," said Geoff Davis, a spokesman for Park Place. "We're considering competing bids and will make an announcement shortly on what we will do."

Davis declined to specify how many bids Park Place had received, from whom or for how much. Nor would he provide any timetable for when the company expected to make its announcement.

Calls to Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts offices in Atlantic City, N.J., were not returned.

The seeming unraveling of the Hilton-Trump deal comes as little surprise to local observers given the length of time it has been under review by the Gaming Commission.

At $15 million, Trump originally got a deal on a casino that cost $100 million to build. Hilton wanted to sell the boat cheaply and quickly to sidestep a criminal trial on charges that it bribed then Port Authority Chairman Elbert Anderson in exchange for his support to build the boat on city-owned land.

Hilton agreed to surrender its gambling license in Missouri when the riverboat was sold and Trump was approved for a license. Hilton also spun off its other gambling properties into a separate, publicly held company, Park Place.

The Trump organization, however, has since run into its own problems with the commission, which is reportedly concerned with the company's high debt levels and previous bankruptcy.

The commission said Wednesday that its licensing investigation was ongoing and that it was still not prepared to offer Trump approval.

On Thursday, the commission's executive director, Mel Fisher, said: "We've been advised that there are other people seeking to buy the casino. They don't have to have our approval to sell it. We just have to approve the buyer. We're waiting for the dust to settle."

The Flamingo's revenue has been stuck in last place among local casinos. But it may still be an attractive property to other buyers at the right price.

That's especially true, observers say, considering the recent growth in local gambling revenues, which reached a monthly record of $44.7 million in July and should get another boost from the introduction of open boarding in early October.

"There's a relatively short list" of companies that might be interested in buying the Flamingo, said Joe Coccimiglio, a gambling industry analyst with Prudential Securities.

A likely bidder, he said, is California-based Hollywood Park Inc., one of the former owners of the Woodlands racetrack in Kansas City, Kan. Hollywood has been an active casino buyer in other markets and may be interested in re-entering the Kansas City market, which it is already familiar with.

Other possibilities include companies such as Isle of Capri and Lady Luck Gaming, or existing local players such as Harrah's and Station Casinos, which would be looking to defend their positions in the Kansas City market and might find the licensing process easier to negotiate than Trump.

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