Pinnacle Entertainment, which owns River City Casino and Lumiere Place in St. Louis, plans to purchase Ameristar Casinos. 

The company announced today in a press release that Pinnacle will buy the shares of Ameristar for $26.50 per share, and will take on $1.9 billion in debt. 

The deal must be approved by Ameristar shareholders. Ameristar currently has eight casino-hotel properties, including one in St. Charles. 

"The acquisition of Ameristar is a transformative transaction for Pinnacle that will provide us the scale and diversification to more effectively compete. The coupling of Pinnacle and Ameristar properties will create a terrific portfolio of quality assets to serve our combined guests," said Anthony Sanfilippo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Entertainment in the press release.