CINCINNATI -- Jack Entertainment will sell Jack Cincinnati Casino and Turfway park for $780 million pending approval, the company announced Friday.

If approved, JACK Entertainment will sell the properties to Hard Rock International and VICI Properties. The deal would result in a name change to Cincinnati's largest casino property but would not affect Jack Cleveland Casino and Jack Thistledown Racino in northern Ohio.

“Hard Rock has been the number one operator in Ohio since opening in the greater Cleveland market in 2013,” said Jim Allen, chairman and CEO of Hard Rock International, in a press release. “And now, we look forward to introducing our unique brand of casino entertainment to Cincinnati. On behalf of the 40,000 Hard Rock team members worldwide, I am pleased to welcome the more than 1,000 Jack Cincinnati employees into the Hard Rock family.”

The proposed sale ends months of speculation about the potential sale of the 22-acre property with 100,000 square feet of gaming space and 33,000 square feet of banquet and event space. Hard Rock's press release said improvements are planned at the facility but those details would be released later.

The sale of Jack Cincinnati has been rumored for months after the company sold its Detroit property for $1 billion in November. In an interview last fall, Macquarie Capital analyst Chad Beynon predicted a sale would have little impact on local jobs and might be good for gamblers - if the buyer was a national company with a solid loyalty rewards program. He also expected there would be lots of interest in the Cincinnati property.

“Ohio’s had one of the best gaming growth rates in the country over the past couple years,” Beynon said. “It still looks like it’s a growing market, certainly not mature.”