The financial woes of Caesars Entertainment are continuing for the beleaguered company, which recently defaulted on a massive bond payment.

This month, Caesars Entertainment was facing a bond interest payment of $225 million on debts that it has incurred. In deciding not to pay that debt, which was due on December 15, Caesars Entertainment is now in default to its creditors on a total bill of $18.4 billion. While this puts the owners of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, the home of the World Series of Poker, in a difficult spot, the company may be able to come out of the deal without any harm.

According to Reuters, Caesars Entertainment is in negotiations with its lienholders for a restructuring of the debt. This restructuring, which would probably take the form of some sort of bond sale, would have to be done quickly before those who hold the current bonds demand total payment from Caesars.

As of September 30, Caesars Entertainment reported to investors that it held approximately $1.5 billion in cash and equivalent property. As November rolled around, the company stated it would need to restructure its current debt, otherwise it would run out of liquidity by the fourth quarter of 2015 and would be facing the potential for either sale or bankruptcy.

In an interview with Howard Stutz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Caesars Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman (pictured) stated that the conditions his company faces “are better and not worse than they have been before.” Loveman went on to say in that interview with Stutz, “We don’t have any significant debt maturities until 2018. We’re much better structured. There is nothing that would trigger a liquidity crisis. We don’t have anything like that.”

This hasn’t calmed the fears of some of Caesars Entertainment’s investors and financial industry analysts, however. In October, Wells Fargo Securities told investors that it was “uncomfortable with Caesars’ leverage and interest coverage profile.” Furthermore, Moody’s Investor Service called the current levels of Caesars Entertainment’s debts “unsustainable.”

Loveman remains adamant that Caesars Entertainment will not enter any type of bankruptcy proceedings. When challenged with the mounting discontent from analysts, Loveman stated to Stutz, “These same people have been predicting the bankruptcy of the company since 2009. So far, they have been unsuccessful in having that prediction made accurate.”

The problems with Caesars Entertainment date back to the mid-2000s. After purchasing the WSOP in 2005 when Binion’s Horseshoe was closed by federal authorities, Caesars Entertainment continued on a massive acquisition and expansion plan. By 2008, it was forced to go private when the private equity groups TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management took over ownership through a $30.7 billion leveraged buyout.

In an attempt to lessen some of the debt the company continued to operate under, Caesars Entertainment once again went back on the stock market, this time on the NASDAQ, in 2012. That has resulted in the company reaching its current debt levels.

Even with the outstanding debt, Caesars Entertainment has been active in the United States. In 2013, it bought Planet Hollywood Resort and opened up the Octavius Tower on the Caesars grounds. It has also expanded into Ohio, where Caesars Entertainment built two casinos, and opened up the doors of Horseshoe Baltimore in August of this year.

Some of these properties have been placed into a corporate structure that would allow for a quick liquidation if it were needed. Using the Planet Hollywood and Baltimore properties as well as Caesars Interactive, Caesars Entertainment created Caesars Acquisition; this offshoot allows Caesars Entertainment to attract investors for future projects with the backing of those properties.

While there has been rumors every year that Caesars Entertainment will have to file bankruptcy – and sell the World Series of Poker and potentially its online gaming division – none of those rumors have come to fruition. “We feel very confident in the company’s future,” Loveman stated to Stutz, “and we are managing it accordingly.”

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