Rock Ohio Caesars Second-Quarter 2011 Results

CLEVELAND, Oct. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Rock Ohio Caesars LLC (ROC), a joint venture between Rock Gaming LLC and Caesars Entertainment Corporation, has provided investors with its second-quarter results.

"Our full-service casino developments in Cleveland and Cincinnati are progressing on schedule and within budget," said Matt Cullen, president and chief operating officer of Rock Gaming, "with expected opening dates of March 2012 and Q2 2013 respectively."  

Horseshoe Casino Cleveland is being developed inside downtown Cleveland's Historic Higbee building. Current renovation of the 300,000 square foot space is focused on architectural interior work.  Installation of furniture, fixtures and equipment is expected to begin in early 2012. Site preparation is also underway for the casino's adjacent parking structure.  The company also acquired the Gateway North Garage from the City of Cleveland earlier this month, further expanding the casino's adjacent parking capacity to approximately 1,200 controlled spaces.  Horseshoe Cleveland is expected to open in late March 2012.

"Horseshoe Cleveland is officially in full gear," said Cullen. "With construction ongoing, this fall we also engaged our hiring efforts and are beginning to activate local vendor sourcing opportunities."

More than 11,000 applicants demonstrated interest in Horseshoe Cleveland's table game employment outreach in September, and casino management has invited nearly 600 applicants to attend Horseshoe Cleveland's table game training program beginning later this year. Recruitment for about 900 additional gaming and operations positions will continue as the casino prepares for its March opening.

In Cincinnati, grading and foundation work at the 22-acre site is complete, and vertical construction has begun for the 354,000 square foot casino building and 2,500 space dedicated parking structure.  

Rock Ohio Caesars has begun the licensing process with the Ohio Casino Control Commission and progress on the regulatory front continues to support our targeted opening dates. Financing for both projects was completed in August 2011.  

Rock Gaming and Caesars have also entered into discussions with the Ohio Racing Commission to obtain necessary approvals for the contribution of the Cleveland-area Thistledown racetrack to the joint venture. ROC will seek approval from the Ohio Lottery Commission to install VLTs at that facility when the licensing process is established. Both actions are anticipated to officially begin in November or early December.  

"We are very pleased with the progress we made over the summer on our Cleveland and Cincinnati projects, and are excited to bring two world-class entertainment venues to the state of Ohio within the next 18 months," said Cullen.

Investors wishing to obtain financial statements can send an email to [email protected] and we will provide them access to our private data site. ROC will also be hosting a conference call to discuss its second-quarter results this week, and dial-in information will be sent to those investors who have been given access to the site.

Rock Gaming is a Midwest-based gaming partnership formed with an initial focus to develop first-class casinos in two of Ohio's largest cities, Cincinnati and Cleveland, as well as to explore other potential gaming opportunities. Rock Gaming has partnered with Caesars Entertainment, the world's most diversified casino-entertainment company, to develop and operate full-service casinos in downtown Cincinnati and downtown Cleveland under the Horseshoe brand. Combined, Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati and Horseshoe Casino Cleveland will generate 11 million visits to the urban cores and add to both cities' already impressive offering of sports, entertainment, dining and cultural attractions, while creating more than 3,000 new jobs.

Caesars Entertainment Corporation is the world's most diversified casino-entertainment company. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, more than 73 years ago, Caesars has grown through development of new resorts, expansions and acquisitions, and now operates casinos on four continents. The company's resorts operate primarily under the Caesars®, Harrah's® and Horseshoe® brand names. Caesars also owns the World Series of Poker® and the London Clubs International family of casinos. Caesars Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its guests through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership.  We are committed to environmental sustainability and energy conservation and recognize the importance of being a responsible steward of the environment. For more information, please visit www.caesars.com.

This release includes "forward-looking statements" intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements contain words such as "may," "will," "project," "might," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," "continue" or "pursue," or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. In particular, they include statements relating to, among other things, future actions, new projects, strategies, future performance, the outcomes of contingencies and future financial results of ROC. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events.

Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties that cannot be predicted or quantified and, consequently, the actual performance of ROC may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following factors:

• the impact of the Company's indebtedness;
• the effects of local and national economic, credit and capital market conditions on the economy in general, and on the gaming and hotel industries in particular;
• construction factors for the construction of Horseshoe Cleveland and Horseshoe Cincinnati, including delays, increased costs of labor and materials, availability of labor and materials, zoning issues, environmental restrictions, soil and water conditions, weather and other hazards, site access matters and building permit issues;
• the effects of environmental and structural building conditions relating to our properties;
• access to available and reasonable financing on a timely basis to develop Phase II of Horseshoe Cleveland and Thistledown;
• changes in laws, including increased tax rates, smoking bans, regulations or accounting standards, third-party relations and approvals, and decisions, disciplines and fines of courts, regulators and governmental bodies;
• litigation outcomes and judicial and governmental body actions, including gaming legislative action, referenda, regulatory disciplinary actions and fines and taxation;
• the ability of Caesars' customer-tracking, customer loyalty and yield-management programs to continue to increase customer loyalty and same store sales or hotel sales;
• our ability to recoup costs of capital investments through higher revenues;
• acts of war or terrorist incidents, severe weather conditions, political uprisings or natural disasters;
• access to insurance on reasonable terms for our assets;
• abnormal gaming holds;
• the potential difficulties in attracting and retaining employees to our facilities as a result of the recent downturn in the gaming and hotel industries, or any other factor; and
• the effects of competition, including locations of competitors and operating and market competition.

Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date made. ROC disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated, or if no date is stated, as of the date of this press release.

SOURCE Rock Ohio Caesars LLC