VICI Properties is looking to complete more casino sale-leasebacks in Canada after agreeing to a $200.6-million transaction with Pure Casino and Entertainment LP involving a portfolio of Alberta gaming and hotel assets.

“We’re interested in finding other opportunities to invest in Canadian gaming as well as other Canadian experiential assets,” said Ed Pitoniak, New York City-based VICI’s president and CEO, in an interview with Connect. “We haven’t done so yet, but it’s something we’d be very interested in doing over time if the opportunities are there.”

Pitoniak knows Canada well from his previous executive roles with Intrawest and CHIP REIT, when he was based in Whistler, B.C., and Vancouver, respectively. He also held executive and board positions with Vancouver-based auction firm Ritchie Brothers, British Columbia Investment Corporation Hospitality Group and and Toronto-based hotel specialist InnVest REIT and Regal Lifestyle Communities, which he co-founded.

In those positions, Pitoniak was actively involved with investments in Alberta, B.C., and Ontario. Accordingly, VICI aims to complete more sale-leasebacks in those properties. Currently, the casino-investment specialist only has no Canadian properties outside of Alberta.

The proposed deal with Pure covers the real estate underlying Deerfoot Inn & Casino in Calgary, Great Northern Casino in Grande Prairie, Alta., and its two adjacent limited-service hotels. Pitoniak said the proposed agreement provides VICI with an opportunity to increase its exposure in the Alberta gaming market during a “precipitous time” given the current the market and geopolitical impacts on the oil and gas economy.

“But honestly, it’s really a long-term conviction in the resilience of the Alberta economy, the positive trends around population growth, and the opportunity to partner with a very good operator in Pure,” he said.

Edmonton-based Pure is a subsidiary of Indigenous Gaming Partners, a partnership of five Nova Scotia-based First Nations: Glooscap First Nation, Millbrook First Nation, Annapolis Valley First Nation, We’koqma’q L’nue’kati, and Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation. VICI also plans to do more with First Nations in Canada, said Pitoniak. VICI completed a previous sale-leaseback with Pure Gaming on other Alberta casino properties and has done a number of others with U.S.-based Indigenous-led organizations.

Strategy-wise, VICI is interested buying and leasing back existing casinos and development projects in Canada.

“We have been involved, and are involved, in a number of development projects, whether as a lender or as the long-term real estate owner,” said Pitoniak. “We would not by any means rule out [development-related sale-leasebacks] as a means of further investing in Canada or, obviously, the U.S.”

Either way, VICI does not have a set timeline for completing more casino sale-leasebacks in Canada.

“As much as we wish those opportunities presented themselves every day, they don’t,” said Pitoniak. “But when they do, we will do everything we can, to seize those opportunities, as we have so far in Alberta.”

New York City-based VICI is an experiential REIT that owns one of the world’s largest portfolios of market-leading gaming, hospitality, wellness, entertainment and leisure destinations, including 40,000 hotel rooms and 5 million square feet of meeting space on the Las Vegas Strip. VICI’s properties are located in Canada, the U.S., and other countries.

Pictured: Deerfoot Inn and Casino in Calgary.

Photo: Pure Casino Entertainment