In 2014, to pay down debt taken on to finance the purchase, the ESOP sold the real estate of the Casino Queen to Gaming and Leisure Properties for $140 million, leasing it back for $14 million per year. In 2012, Koman and his partners sold the Casino Queen for $170 million to a newly formed Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), which would steer the casino's profits into the retirement accounts of participating employees. Casino Queen has generated over $160 million for the city of East St. In 2014, the White Star One was auctioned off and sold for $600,000. The move also allowed the casino to add 10,000 additional square feet of gaming space. Ĭhanged regulations led to the casino to be moved inland in 2007, but the gaming floor was required to float in a basin filled with 340,000 US gallons (1,300,000 L 280,000 imp gal) of water.

The 157-room hotel, built at a cost of $15 million, opened in January 2000. Casino Queen originally operated on a boat called the White Star One.Ĭonstruction of a hotel began in 1998. It was viewed positively by most city officials and residents, as the struggling city desperately needed both a revenue source and employment opportunities for its residents. The Casino Queen opened on June 23, 1993. With no other proposals before the board, Koman's group was awarded the license in May 1992.

The group that would ultimately open the Casino Queen, led by real estate developer Bill Koman, submitted its proposal to the Illinois Gaming Board in January 1992. Louis, in an effort to help the financially troubled city.

One of the licenses was guaranteed to East St. Illinois enacted a riverboat casino law in 1990 authorizing licenses for ten casinos to open around the state. History The Casino Queen in 2006 with the White Star One riverboat in the foreground and the hotel tower in the background The gaming floor floats on a basin filled with 340,000 gallons of water, but the rest of the property's amenities are built on dry land. It is still nominally a riverboat casino, but moved onto land in 2007. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by The Queen Casino & Entertainment, an affiliate of Standard General. Louis, Illinois, just across the river from St.

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