Blackstone bet big on 4 huge Las Vegas casinos. Then the coronavirus brought Sin City to a halt, right as the PE giant was trying to unload one of its multi-billion-dollar jewels. Blackstone has bet big on Las Vegas, snapping up four casinos in the last five years. Now, all of the casinos are temporarily closed – but the private-equity giant should still make money from rent on three of the properties. Its most recent deal left four banks on the hook for $1.9 billion of debt that they're struggling to syndicate. Click here for more BI Prime stories . Blackstone poured billions into a 1.5-mile stretch of Las Vegas in the last five years. The private-equity giant bought two casinos outright and purchased interests in two others as it bet big on a simple investing thesis that extended to strategies beyond real estate: people would pay to get out of the house for entertainment. But with the lights shut off across Sin City due to a state order in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Blackstone can't make money from any of its casinos for the foreseeable future. But despite the dark backdrop, the private-equity giant has an income stream even as the casinos are closed: hundreds of millions in guaranteed annual rent from MGM Resorts for three of the four casinos Blackstone owns in Vegas, including from a two-casino partnership with MGM's real-estate business.