Note 16. Commitments and Contingencies

Capital Leases. The Company leases certain equipment under agreements classified as capital leases. The future minimum lease payments, including interest, at December 31, 2016 are $0.3 million in 2017 and 2018. After reducing these amounts for interest of $0.1 million, the present value of the minimum lease payments at December 31, 2016 is $0.4 million.

Operating Leases. The Company leases land and certain equipment, including some of our slot machines, timing and photo finish equipment, videotape and closed circuit television equipment, and certain pari‑mutuel equipment, under operating leases. Future minimum payments under non‑cancellable operating leases with initial terms of one year or more consisted of the following at December 31, 2016 (in thousands):

	Leases
2017	$	2,412
2018		1,974
2019		1,806
2020		1,320
2021		1,237
Thereafter		24,507
	$	33,256

Total rental expense under operating leases (exclusive of the Shreveport ground lease described below) was $3.8 million, $3.7 million and $2.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Additional rent for land upon which the Eldorado Reno resides of $0.6 million in each of the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 was paid to C. S. & Y. Associates, a general partnership of which Donald L. Carano is a general partner. This rental agreement expires June 30, 2027 and the rental payments are more fully described in Note 17, Related Parties.

Eldorado Shreveport is party to a ground lease with the City of Shreveport for the land on which the casino was built. The lease had an initial term which ended December 20, 2010 with subsequent renewals for up to an additional 40 years. The base rental amount during the initial ten-year lease term was $0.5 million per year. The Louisiana Partnership has extended the lease for the first five-year renewal term during which the base annual rental is $0.4 million. The annual base rental payment will increase by 15% during each of the second, third, fourth and fifth five‑year renewal terms with no further increases. The base rental portion of the ground lease is being amortized on a straight‑line basis. In addition to the base rent, the lease requires percentage rent based on adjusted gross receipts to the City of Shreveport and payments in lieu of admission fees to the City of Shreveport and the Bossier Parish School Board. Expenses under the terms of the ground lease are as follows (in thousands):

	For the year ended December 31,
	2016		2015		2014
Ground lease:
Base rent	$	585	$	585	$	585
Percentage rent		1,315		1,363		1,336
		1,900		1,948		1,921
Payment in lieu of admissions fees and school taxes	$	5,724	$	5,985	$	5,908

Bond Requirements. Mountaineer is required to maintain bonds in the aggregate amount of $1.1 million for the benefit of the West Virginia Lottery Commission, Presque Isle Downs is required to maintain a slot machine payment bond for the benefit of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the amount of $1.0 million and Scioto Downs is required to maintain a VLT license bond for the benefit of the Ohio Lottery Commission in the amount of $1.0 million. Silver Legacy is required to maintain a tax bond for the benefit of the Nevada Department of Taxation in the amount of $0.4 million, Shreveport maintains a license and permit bond in the amount of $0.3 million for the benefit of the Louisiana Casino Gaming Division and Circus Reno is required to maintain a license and permit bond in the amount of $0.3 million in favor of the Nevada Department of Taxation. The bonding requirements have been satisfied via the issuance of surety bonds.

Litigation. We are a party to various lawsuits, which have arisen in the normal course of our business. Estimated losses are accrued for these lawsuits and claims when the loss is probable and can be estimated. The current liability for the estimated losses associated with those lawsuits is not material to our consolidated financial condition and those estimated losses are not expected to have a material impact on our results of operations.

In connection with the Mergers, a class action lawsuit was filed by a purported stockholder of the Company alleging breach of fiduciary duty by the Company board of directors in connection with the Mergers. The case was filed on November 8, 2016 in the Second Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada and is captioned Assad v. Eldorado Resorts, Inc., et. al, case no. CV 16-02312. The case, which purports to be a class action on behalf of all of the stockholders of the Company, alleged, among other things, breach of fiduciary duty in failing to disclose all material information to stockholders in seeking approval of the issuance of shares of Company Common Stock in the Mergers and requested injunctive relief and an award of fees and costs incurred by the plaintiff in the action.

Collective Bargaining Agreements. As of December 31, 2016, we had approximately 7,400 employees. As of such date, we had 11 collective bargaining agreements covering approximately 900 employees. No collective bargaining agreements covering sizable numbers of our employees are scheduled to expire in 2017.

Environmental Remediation. In October 2004, the Company acquired 229 acres of real property, known as the International Paper site, as an alternative site to build Presque Isle Downs. In connection with the acquisition of the International Paper site, the Company entered into a consent order and decree (the “Consent Order”) with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (“PaDEP”) and International Paper insulating us from liability for certain pre‑existing contamination, subject to compliance with the Consent Order, which included a proposed environmental remediation plan for the site, which was tied specifically to the use of the property as a racetrack. The proposed environmental remediation plan in the Consent Order was based upon a “baseline environmental report” and management estimated that such remediation would be subsumed within the cost of developing the property as a racetrack. The racetrack was never developed at this site. In October 2005, the Company sold 205 acres to GEIDC who assumed primary responsibility for the remediation obligations under the Consent Order relating to the “South Yard and the Dunn Brickyard” parcels they acquired. However, the Company was advised by the PaDEP that it was not released from its liability and responsibility under the Consent Order for the “Main Site” parcel as its remediation was undertaken by the Company prior to the sale to GEIDC and nearly complete. Pursuant to the sale, the Company purchased an Environmental Risk Insurance Policy in the amount of $10.0 million with respect to the property. The Company secured an Act 2 Release of Liability for the Main Site on January 6, 2006. GEIDC subsequently obtained Act 2 releases for the South Yard and Dunn Brickyard parcels on March 26, 2013 and January 17, 2014, respectively. In October 2015, the Company renewed the insurance policy for a period of one year to seek an expert opinion regarding any continuing liability regarding the property. Having received such an opinion, the Company elected to no longer renew the insurance policy.

Regulatory Gaming Assessments. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (the “PGCB”), the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue and the Pennsylvania State Police (collectively “the Borrowers”), were required to fund the costs they incurred in connection with the initial development of the infrastructure to support gaming operations in Pennsylvania as well as the initial ongoing costs of the Borrowers. The initial funding of these costs was provided from a loan from the Pennsylvania General Fund in the amount of $36.1 million, and further funding was provided from additional loans from the Pennsylvania Property Tax Reserve Fund in the aggregate amount of $63.8 million.

The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue will assess all licensees, including Presque Isle Downs, their proportionate share of amounts represented by the borrowings, which are in the aggregate amount of $99.9 million, once the designated number of Pennsylvania’s slot machine licensees is operational. On July 11, 2011, the PGCB issued an administrative order which established that payments associated with the $63.8 million that was borrowed from the Property Tax Reserve Fund would commence on January 1, 2012. The repayment allocation between all current licensees is based upon equal weighting of (1) cumulative gross slot revenue since inception in relation to the combined cumulative gross slot revenue for all licensees and (2) single year gross slot revenue (during the state’s fiscal year ending June 30) in relation to the combined single year gross slot revenue for all licensees; and amounts paid each year will be adjusted annually based upon changes in the licensee’s proportionate share of gross slot revenue. MTR Gaming has estimated that its total proportionate share of the aggregate $63.8 million to be assessed to the gaming facilities will be $4.1 million and will be paid quarterly over a ten‑year period, which began effective January 1, 2012. For the $36.1 million that was borrowed from the General Fund, payment is scheduled to begin after all fourteen licensees are operational. Although MTR Gaming cannot determine when payment will begin, it has considered a similar repayment model for the General Fund borrowings and estimated that its total proportionate share of the aggregate $36.1 million to all fourteen gaming facilities will approximate $1.9 million.

The recorded estimate is subject to revision based upon future changes in the revenue assumptions utilized to develop the estimate. The estimated total obligation at December 31, 2016 and 2015 was $3.7 million and $4.3 million, respectively and is accrued in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet. MTR Gaming paid $0.4 million in 2016 and $0.4 million in 2015.

Agreements with Horsemen and Pari-mutuel Clerks. The Federal Interstate Horse Racing Act and the state racing laws in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania require that, in order to simulcast races, we have written agreements with the horse owners and trainers at those racetracks. In addition, in order to operate slot machines in West Virginia, we are required to enter into written agreements regarding the proceeds of the slot machines (a “proceeds agreement”) with a representative of a majority of the horse owners and trainers and with a representative of a majority of the pari‑mutuel clerks. In Pennsylvania and Ohio, we must have an agreement with the representative of the horse owners. We have the requisite agreements in place with the horsemen at Mountaineer until December 31, 2018. With respect to the Mountaineer pari‑mutuel clerks, we have a labor agreement in force until November 30, 2017 and a proceeds agreement until April 14, 2018. We are required to have a proceeds agreement in effect on July 1 of each year with the horsemen and the pari‑mutuel clerks as a condition to renewal of our video lottery license for such year. If the requisite proceeds agreement is not in place as of July 1 of a particular year, Mountaineer’s application for renewal of its video lottery license could be denied, in which case Mountaineer would not be permitted to operate either its slot machines or table games. Scioto Downs has the requisite agreement in place with the OHHA until December 31, 2023, with automatic two‑year renewals unless either party requests re‑negotiation pursuant to its terms. Presque Isle Downs has the requisite agreement in place with the Pennsylvania Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association until May 1, 2019. With the exception of the respective Mountaineer, Presque Isle Downs and Scioto Downs horsemen’s agreements and the agreement between Mountaineer and the pari‑mutuel clerks’ union described above, each of the agreements referred to in this paragraph may be terminated upon written notice by either party.