Houston Billionaire Tilman Fertitta to Expand Golden Nugget Brand

Houston-based Fertitta Entertainment, which owns five Golden Nugget Hotel and Casinos and the NBA’s Houston Rockets, is set to acquire Nevada’s Hard Rock Lake Tahoe from Las Vegas-based Paragon Gaming for an undisclosed price. The company, controlled by Houston billionaire businessman and television personality Tilman Fertitta, will bring the property under the Golden Nugget brand once the deal is completed.

Fertitta owns five Golden Nugget casinos in downtown Las Vegas, Laughlin, Louisiana, Mississippi and Atlantic City. Last year, his firm acquired the Wildwood Casino and Hotel in Cripple Creek, Colorado, for $43 million, with plans also in place to rebrand that property as a Golden Nugget.

The 539-room Hard Rock Lake Tahoe sits on 24 acres and is one of four hotel-casinos in the South Lake Tahoe market. The property sits across from the long-planned $80 million Tahoe South Events Center, a 132,000-square-foot facility that is set to provide a location to host conferences, sports tournaments and concerts with a capacity of up to 6,000.