The largest individual shareholders of Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment are selling their $7.95 million California vineyard (pictured), according to a property listing filed over the weekend.
Don Carano died in 2017, but his family has retained its position as the largest noncorporate shareholder in Caesars.
Anthony Carano is the company president and COO, and Gary Carano is the executive chairman of the board of directors.
In 1981, Don Carano purchased the 60-acre Home Ranch in California’s Sonoma County as a vacation home. It’s now on the market for $7.95 million. Stephanie Domenichelli of real estate company The Agency is marketing the property.
“The location is spectacular,” Domenichelli said.
“There are gorgeous views of Alexander Valley and vineyards all around you, but you’re just one mile into Geyserville.”
Family Business
The Carano family, headed up by the late Don Carano and his wife Rhonda, opened the Eldorado Casino Resort in Reno in 1973.
Over the next 50 years, Eldorado Resorts grew into one of the biggest casino operators in Nevada. In 2020, it bought out the Caesars Entertainment business and brand for $17.3 billion.
As well as a vacation spot, The Home Ranch was also a working winery. By the early 1990s, it began collaborating with the nearby Ferrari winery to make the Ferrari-Carano Vineyard and Winery Company.
The $8 million lot features a relatively modest farmhouse, but comes with 24 acres of Chardonnay grape vineyards, part of the working vineyard which is now operated by Folino Estates.
It also has six acres of olive groves and fruit trees, cultivated by Rhonda Carano during the family visits to the property.
The farmhouse property itself is a two-bedroom house built in 1910, along with a pool house and an artist studio added by the Caranos. The 2,200-square foot building features hand painted tiling, stained glass windows, and a sheltered canopy for the patio overlooking the rolling acres of the vineyard.
Rhonda Carano put the property up for sale after only visiting once or twice in the five years since her husband died.
“It didn’t feel the same without him here,” Domenichelli said of the property’s current owners.
Caesars Entertainment is the second-biggest U.S. gambling operator after MGM Resorts International. It’s also the third- biggest Las Vegas-based casino operator after MGM and Las Vegas Sands, which currently does not have any U.S. casinos, but is instead focusing on the Asian market.
Rhonda Carano has a net worth of some $250 million. Gary and Anthony Carano both take a pay packet of around $8 million a year from their Caesars boardroom positions, not including the valuation of the stock they own. In Q1 2024, Caesars reported $2.7 billion in revenues across its 50 properties in Las Vegas and beyond.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
