Barber will serve as CEO of the ownership group, while EBCI’s Adele Jacobs-Madden will serve as CFO.
EBCI agreed to a $250m deal to purchase the casino from Caesars last December but the transaction is still pending approval from the Indiana Gaming Control Commission.
Barber said the tribe plans to retain the approximately 700 employees working at Caesars Southern Indiana.
“Caesars Southern Indiana is a beautiful facility with a well-established brand and a superb team of hundreds of local employees already in place,” Barber said. “We want to keep the same friendly, fun, familiar environment for our guests. Our intent is to build on the facility’s success and offer guests additional opportunities to play at EBCI’s Harrah’s-branded North Carolina properties while also having access to all properties throughout the Caesars Rewards network.”
The property is located on the Indiana/Kentucky border, minutes away from Louisville.
“We are pleased with EBCI’s initial acquisition and the possibility of growing our reach into other markets,” Barber said. “We are looking forward to entering the well-established Southern Indiana/Louisville market and to attracting guests from around the region to our world-class resort in Southern Indiana.”
Caesars Southern Indiana will be the first EBCI casino outside of the tribe’s home state of North Carolina.
EBCI operates Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee and Harrah’s Cherokee River Casino & Hotel in Murphy. The casinos, both managed by Caesars, are roughly an hour apart and on the southwest side of the state.
