Isle Of Capri Casinos Incorporated has signed a deal that will see it sell its Lady Luck Casino Marquette riverboat establishment in north-eastern Iowa to fellow American casino operator CQ Holdings Company Incorporated for $40 million.

According to a report from the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, Isle Of Capri Casinos Incorporated acquired the Mississippi River casino with 540 slots and 190 employees in 2000 and expects to seal the sale to its Illinois rival in early-2018 pending the customary closing conditions being met and the receipt of approvals from the Iowa Racing And Gaming Commission and the Illinois Gaming Control Board.

“Since we acquired Lady Luck Casino Marquette in March of 2000, our talented team members have built fantastic customer relationships,” said Eric Hausler, Chief Executive Officer for St Louis-based Isle Of Capri Casinos Incorporated. “Our Marquette team will continue providing customers with the same great experiences for which they are known.”

Isle Of Capri Casinos Incorporated operates 14 properties in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Pennsylvania and inked an agreement in August to offload its Isle Of Capri Casino Hotel Lake Charles facility to Albuquerque-based Laguna Development Corporation for $134.5 million. This was seen as a prerequisite for its subsequently announced $1.7 billion merger arrangement with Reno-based Eldorado Resorts Incorporated, which is now due to close during the second quarter of 2017 and give the single entity an estate of approximately 20,800 slots and more than 560 table games alongside over 6,500 hotel rooms.

For its part, CQ Holdings Company Incorporated has owned and operated the Casino Queen riverboat facility in East St Louis since 1993 and it intends to re-brand the Lady Luck Casino Marquette as the Casino Queen Marquette. The Swansea-based firm explained that the agreed purchase price represents 7.5-times the Iowa venue’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for the twelve months to the end of the coming March while financing is to be provided by Citizens Bank NA and Gaming And Leisure Properties Incorporated.

“This transaction marks an exciting time for the Casino Queen family as we grow from a single property into a regional gaming company,” said Jeffrey Watson, President for CQ Holdings Company Incorporated.