Bob Kraft hedging bet?

Gambling odds favor Robert KraftPats honcho seeks Wynn deal, owns stake in rival
By Jerry Kronenberg

It’s like owning the New England Patriots and a slice of the New York Giants during the Super Bowl — you win either way.

A new filing shows Pats owner Robert Kraft holds a $1.3 million stake in gambling giant Caesars Entertainment even as he and Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn battle Caesars for a Boston-area casino license.

“It’s like putting your money on red and black (at the roulette table),” University of Nevada at Las Vegas gambling expert David Schwartz said. “Unless ‘0’ or ‘00’ come up, you’re going to win.”

Caesars, which began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market yesterday after an initial public offering, disclosed in a regulatory filing that a Kraft company owned some 85,000 pre-IPO shares in the firm.

Hub private-equity funds Highland Capital Partners, General Catalyst Partners and Tudor Investments also hold stakes in the firm, as does a trust fund owned by actor Michael J. Fox.
The disclosure comes just weeks after Kraft and Wynn unveiled plans to challenge Caesars and other gambling firms for the single Greater Boston casino license available under a new state gambling law.

Kraft and Wynn want to build a $1 billion casino in Foxboro across from Gillette Stadium.
That’s the biggest challenge to date to a rival billion-dollar plan by Caesars and Suffolk Downs’ owners to build a casino at the East Boston race track.

Kraft’s company declined to comment, but experts say it’s not unusual for investors to hold interests in competing casino firms.

“It’s certainly legal — and relatively common,” Morningstar analyst Chad Mollman said.
Still, Mollman expects Kraft to dump his Caesars shares soon to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

Caesars’ stock had a great opening day yesterday.

Sold to investors for $9 a share, the stock shot up 71 percent to close at $15.39 on the Nasdaq.Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1402270