Maryland Live Casino has two owners in two different senses of the word. The Cordish Companies, a privately held Baltimore firm, holds the Maryland gaming license and runs the casino, the hotel, and everything on the floor. Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (GLPI), a publicly traded real estate investment trust, owns the land and buildings and leases them back to Cordish under a long-term agreement. GLPI paid roughly $1.14 billion for the Hanover real estate in late 2021 and has collected rent from Cordish ever since.
That split, operator on one side and landlord on the other, is common in the casino industry and it is the reason a simple question about ownership has two answers.
The Cordish Companies Runs the Casino
Cordish is a family-owned, fifth-generation business based in Baltimore, currently led by David Cordish. The firm has grown into a diversified developer with ten business lines across commercial real estate, entertainment districts, gaming, hotels, and restaurants. Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland, which opened on June 6, 2012 next to Arundel Mills Mall, was the first property to carry the “Live!” brand.
As the operator, Cordish holds the video lottery operation license issued by the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission. That license is the legal authority to run slot machines, electronic table games, and live dealer tables on the premises. The Hanover facility currently offers more than 3,900 slot machines and electronic table games, roughly 190 live table games, and more than 50 poker tables. Cordish also manages the 310-room hotel tower and the restaurants on site.
Holding the license means Cordish is responsible for everything that happens on the casino floor: hiring and training staff, enforcing the age-21 rule, running the voluntary exclusion program for problem gamblers, managing marketing, and submitting to background investigations and financial audits by state regulators. If the company falls short, the Gaming Control Commission can impose civil penalties or suspend the license under Maryland’s gaming statutes.
Gaming and Leisure Properties Owns the Real Estate
GLPI is a real estate investment trust listed on Nasdaq that specializes in owning casino properties. It closed on the Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland real estate on December 29, 2021 for about $1.14 billion. That purchase covered the casino floor, the hotel tower, parking structures, and the surrounding land. GLPI acquired the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Live! properties from Cordish in a related transaction, bringing the combined deal to roughly $1.81 billion across all three sites.
A REIT does not operate the properties it owns. It collects rent and reinvests in acquisitions. Federal tax law requires a REIT to distribute at least 90 percent of its taxable income to shareholders as dividends each year to keep its tax status, so GLPI functions essentially as a pass-through: rental income flows in from tenants like Cordish, and most of it flows out to shareholders. As of late 2025, seven of GLPI’s eight board members qualified as independent under Nasdaq listing standards.
How the Lease Ties Them Together
The relationship between the two companies is governed by a single-asset triple-net lease covering the Maryland property. Under a triple-net lease, the tenant pays rent plus property taxes, insurance, and maintenance. GLPI collects a fixed rental payment and carries almost none of the property’s operating expenses.
The Maryland Live! lease has an initial term of 39 years, with tenant renewal options that can extend it to a maximum of 60 years. Starting on the lease’s second anniversary, annual rent increases by a fixed 1.75 percent each year. That built-in escalator protects GLPI against inflation and gives Cordish predictable cost growth to plan around. The initial combined annual rent across the Maryland, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh properties was set at $125 million, with the Hanover site commanding the largest share given its $1.14 billion valuation out of the $1.81 billion total.
The structure cleanly separates who bears which risks. GLPI’s risk sits with the long-term value of the real estate and Cordish’s ability to keep paying rent. Cordish’s risk sits with whether the casino generates enough revenue to cover rent, operating costs, and taxes and still turn a profit. Neither company is directly exposed to the other’s core risk, and that separation is the whole point of the arrangement.
Who Answers for What
For anyone trying to figure out which company is responsible for a given issue at the Hanover property, the dividing line follows the lease. Cordish, as the licensed operator, is the company Maryland regulators deal with on gaming compliance, patron safety, employment, and casino conduct. GLPI, as the landlord, sits in the background collecting rent and has no role in day-to-day operations.
The commercial logic behind GLPI’s investment rests on the strength of the underlying business. Live! Casino & Hotel is the second-highest-grossing casino in Maryland, behind only MGM National Harbor, and for the full year of 2025 its gaming revenue reached approximately $711.5 million. The property benefits from its position in the Baltimore-Washington corridor and its direct adjacency to Arundel Mills Mall, one of the busiest shopping destinations in the region, which is difficult for competitors to replicate. That revenue profile is what makes a $1.14 billion real estate bet and a 39-year lease work for both sides.