ELIZABETH, Ind. — Caesars Entertainment has reached an agreement to sell its southern Indiana casino to the North Carolina-based Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for $250 million.

Caesars Entertainment officials announced the sale agreement for Caesars Southern Indiana, formerly branded as a Horseshoe casino, last week, ahead of the company’s Dec. 31 deadline to divest from the casino operation. The casino is located in the Harrison County town of Elizabeth, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky.

EBCI will enter into a lease with VICI Properties Inc., which owns the real property of the casino. The agreement calls for an annual payment of $32.5 million. VICI is a real estate investment trust. It owns the real estate of Caesars casinos including Horseshoe Hammond.

Twenty-year-old Caesars of Southern Indiana retired its three-floor riverboat in late 2019 and moved into a new, $85 million land-based building that offers 100,000-square-feet of gambling space, including slot machines, table games, and poker, as well as space for dining and entertainment.

After it was acquired through a public merger with Eldorado Resorts Inc., Caesars was ordered by the Indiana Gaming Commission to sell three of its five casinos in the state. Along with the Elizabeth casino, Caesars chose to sell its Evansville and Hammond properties, though the deadline to sell them has been extended one year.

The Southern Indiana transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approval. Caesars and EBCI also agreed to a long-term agreement, effective at the closing of the deal, for the continued use of the Caesars brand and Caesars Rewards loyalty program at the casino.