Ex-wife of CEO sells her 6% stake

CHESTER, W.Va. (AP) -- The ex-wife of MTR Gaming Group Inc.'s chief executive officer has sold her 6 percent stake in the company to brokerage firm Morgan Stanley DW Inc.
Margaret Beth Arneault sold the 1.65 million shares earlier this month for 10.84 apiece, according to a filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The deal also included retirement of a 4.5 million loan that company CEO Ted Arneault had taken against the stock.
MTR shares were trading unchanged Tuesday at 11.69 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
In October, the state Supreme Court ordered Arneault to give his ex-wife half of his 13.25 percent stake in MTR to settle the couple's divorce.
Margaret Arneault raised their two children and ran their home in Michigan while her husband spent the workweek in West Virginia.
According to the SEC filing, she sold the shares because it was prudent "not to have most of her investment portfolio invested in just one stock in one industry."
MTR, which owns Mountaineer Race Track & amp; Gaming Resort in Chester, has led the push for table game legislation in West Virginia and has lobbied for slot-machine legislation in Ohio, so far without success on either front.
The company's holdings include Binion's Gambling Hall & amp; Hotel in Las Vegas, Speedway Casino in North Las Vegas, Nev., and Scioto Downs in Columbus, Ohio.
The company also owns 50 percent of North Metro Harness Initiative in Minnesota and has controlling interest in Jackson Trotting Association, a harness track in Michigan.
In Pennsylvania, MTR is building Presque Isle Downs, an 80 million racetrack with 1,600 slot machines near Erie.