At separate meetings held this week, Penn National Gaming gained the approval of both the Ohio Casino Control Commission and the Louisiana Gaming Control Board for its upcoming acquisition of Pinnacle Entertainment.

Timothy J Wilmott, CEO of Penn National, commented: “We thank the Ohio Commission and the Louisiana Board for their thorough and diligent review of our applications and filings related to our pending transaction with Pinnacle Entertainment.

"Our progress with the regulatory approval process remains on track and we continue to expect the transaction to be completed in the second half of this year.”

Inclusive of the approvals from the OCCC and LGCB, Penn National has received approvals from eight gaming regulatory bodies in connection with its acquisition of Pinnacle.

Penn has extensive interests in owning and operating gaming and racing facilities and VLTs in 29 locations across 17 jurisdictions in the US and Canada. It currently runs over 36,000 gaming devices, over 800 table games and has nearly 5,000 hotel rooms. It also has online gaming through Penn Interactive Ventures.

Pinnacle has 16 gaming businesses in nine US jurisdictions and has a majority interest in Retama Park Racetrack in Texas.