Eldorado Resorts Inc. won U.S. antitrust approval for its US$17 billion bid to purchase Caesars Entertainment Corp., putting the two companies one step closer to completing their merger.

The Federal Trade Commission signed off on the deal after Eldorado agreed to sell casinos to resolve competition concerns, according to a statement Friday.

Eldorado, headquartered in Reno, Nevada, had already agreed to part with casinos in Nevada, Louisiana, West Virginia and Missouri, in part to satisfy potential regulatory concerns about market share.

The new company, which will do business under the Caesars name, will become the largest operator of casinos in the U.S., with nearly 50 resorts, including its namesake Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Regulators in the three remaining states where approvals are still required are expected to take up the issue shortly. Nevada and New Jersey haven’t yet scheduled hearings. The Indiana Gaming Commission will consider the merger at a meeting on July 10.

The merger, first announced in June 2019, capped a flurry of deal-making in the gambling business. But it faced obstacles, including the coronavirus, which shuttered all of the casinos in the U.S. for nearly three months this year.

Eldorado, led by Chief Executive Officer Tom Reeg, had to hustle to find buyers for the some of the company’s properties. He raised US$672 million in a stock offering and negotiated new terms with banks, which loaned the company more than US$7 billion to get the deal done.

Reeg, a former bond-fund analyst and manager, is known for wringing profits out of even modest properties. The new company is expected to focus on the fast-growing business of sports betting, while cutting back on the customer incentives that have historically eaten into casino profits.