Eldorado wants the deal to go through in part because it has already paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain the financing commitment it has in place to close on the acquisition. In its motion, Eldorado states the sale was tentatively agreed to in the first place "to avoid adverse action by the Indiana Gaming Commission" and that the deal with the gaming commission required a third party to oversee operation of the casino. The "attorney-in-fact," as the party is called, will assume the power to sell the asset if the sale is not consummated by Sept. 28, which could result in a lower sale price.

As well, Eldorado states in its argument that it has expended $850,000 already to maintain its acquisition financing commitment and expects to expend an additional $1 million before the deal is decided one way or the other. It is currently paying $196,000 per month to maintain the financing. After Sept. 30 that cost will increase to $244,000 per month, Eldorado said. "The Debtors are not harmed by deciding now whether to proceed with the Purchase Agreement whereas continued delay imposes a significant monetary cost on [Eldorado]," the company stated in its motion.

While agreeing with Eldorado that it is important to commence the sales process and that a termination of the existing sales agreement would be harmful to the Debtors' estates, the steering committee says it will not support Eldorado's motion to compel a decision prior to the deadline. That is, unless the Debtors fail to move forward with the sale per the existing purchase agreement. Tropicana filed a motion on Aug. 21 to initiate the sale process but retained the right to withdraw the motion, which is what has the steering committee concerned it may not happen.

Tropicana is a subsidiary of hotel owner Columbia Sussex Corp., which started down the path toward its May bankruptcy filing for Tropicana as soon as it acquired the casinos from owner Aztar Corp. in January 2007 for $2.1 billion in cash following an intense bidding war. For that story, click here .

If the sale of Tropicana's Evansville is reinitiated and a higher or better bid comes along during the process, Tropicana is required to pay Eldorado a break-up fee of $6.6 million and to reimburse Eldorado for as much as $500,000 in related expenses.