Century Casinos announced on Monday it will sell the racing and gaming operations at two of Alberta’s most prominent racetracks as it looks to reduce its debt and focus on its U.S. gaming operations.
The Colorado-headquartered operator has agreed to sell the operations at Century Downs Racetrack and Casino in Calgary and Century Mile Racetrack and Casino in Edmonton to Highfield Investment Group for approximately US$16.4m (C$23.2m), which the company said represents a 6.1x multiple of FY 2025 EBITDA.
The racinos sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027, subject to all customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.
“As part of our ongoing strategic review process, the sale of Century Mile and Century Downs racinos is an important step towards concentrating our resources on our U.S. properties, where we see the strongest opportunities for growth,” said Century Casinos’ co-CEOs Erwin Haitzmann and Peter Hoetzinger.
“This transaction improves our financial flexibility and operational efficiency as we focus on our core U.S. assets.”
How many Alberta casinos does Century Casinos own?
As alluded to by the CEOs, Century Casinos has been reevaluating its longstanding presence in Alberta in recent years.
The company owns and/or operates 11 casinos in North America, including in its home state of Colorado as well as Missouri and others. Currently, it runs more gaming venues in Alberta than in any other North American jurisdiction, with four:
- Century Casino St. Albert
- Century Casino & Hotel in Edmonton
- Century Downs Racetrack and Casino in Calgary
- Century Mile Racetrack and Casino in Edmonton
Century Casinos owns only the operations at its Alberta sites, having sold the real estate of all of its Alberta properties to VICI Properties in 2023.
The two commercial casinos, Century Casino St. Albert and Edmonton’s Century Casino & Hotel, are not affected by the Highfield transaction.
Century forecasted Alberta sales amid net loss
Over the last 18 months, Century’s leaders have signposted that Alberta sales were likely. In March 2025, the CEOs said that selling off any non-U.S. operations, which also includes a controlling stake in Polish operator Casinos Poland Ltd., was under consideration, with Hoetzinger specifically referencing flat revenue from its Canadian business.
A spokesperson for the company told Canadian Gaming Business last year that the business volume of the company’s Canadian operations is relatively small in comparison to the U.S. segment.
In August 2026, Century Casino’s Q2 2026 results showed that while all four of the company’s Alberta locations produced more revenue than they did in the same period in 2025, the aggregated Canadian revenue was still lower than all of Century’s U.S. geographic segments.
Most pertinently for Century’s leaders, the net loss attributable to shareholders from the Canadian operations almost doubled year over year in Q2, from US$599,000 to US$1.15m (approximately C$1.6m).
On an earnings call at that time, Hoetzinger confirmed that the company was already considering multiple options for its two commercial casinos and two horsetrack-adjacent racinos in Alberta, suggesting that they could either be sold all in one transaction or in separate deals for the racinos and the commercial casinos.
“There’s interest for both, and one is a little bit more ahead than the other. We think that at least for one of those packages, we should be able to publicly disclose something before the end of the year.”
In Monday’s press release, Century Casinos said it will use the proceeds from the sale of the two racinos to reduce its indebtedness and its lease-adjusted net leverage, and that it expects the sale will also reduce its annual rent by approximately US$7.5m (C$10.7m).
Century opted out of Alberta iGaming, could leave province entirely
That would suggest that Century Casinos could ultimately sell its other two Alberta casinos in a separate deal and leave the province entirely, as leadership continues to focus more narrowly on its U.S. business.
We already know that, unlike some other brick-and-mortar casino operators such as PURE Casino Entertainment and River Cree Resort & Casino, Century Casinos has no intention of launching an online gambling platform in Alberta’s new iGaming market.
The company’s EVP of Operations for Canada and Europe, Nikolaus Strohriegel confirmed to Canadian Gaming Business in July, around the time that Alberta opened its commercial iGaming market, that the company had no plans to offer online gambling in the province.
One option that remains on the table for the operator’s two remaining Alberta casinos is partnering with commercial sports betting operators to offer retail sportsbooks. “Some of those sports betting companies have knocked on our doors, and we are in, let’s say, early-stage talks,” said Hoetzinger on August’s call.
However, his comments that there is interest in Century’s other Alberta properties suggest that the most likely scenario might be a total withdrawal from the province.
Canadian Gaming Business reached out to Century Casinos seeking more information and an update on the plans for the company’s two commercial casinos in Alberta, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
