Conseco Sells Stake in Riverboat for $260 Million.

Business Editors

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 19, 2000

Conseco announced today that it has reached agreement with Argosy Gaming Company to sell its 29% interest in the Argosy riverboat gaming facility at Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

The price agreed to by the parties is $260 million to be paid on March 1, 2001. Conseco's initial equity investment in the Argosy riverboat was approximately $20 million.

Under terms of the partnership agreement with Argosy, Conseco had a right to put its share to Argosy at any time with a sale price determined by specific procedures. The put process had been delayed since late summer by a legal dispute between Argosy and Conseco over those procedures.

Conseco's stake in the Argosy riverboat is one of the non-core assets being sold to fund a $2 billion reduction of bank and public debt before year-end 2001. The sale of the riverboat asset will bring total cash generated from completed and agreed-to deals to more than $1.5 billion.

Complete details on these amounts and on how these expected proceeds will be applied to future debt payments will be discussed later this morning at an Investor Briefing being held at Conseco headquarters in Indianapolis. The Briefing is being webcast simultaneously through the Conseco.com web site.

World Wide Web http://www.conseco.com Investor Hotline 800.4.CONSECO Fax-on-Demand 800.344.6452

Note on forward-looking statements: All statements, trend analyses and other information contained in this release and elsewhere (such as in filings by Conseco with the Securities and Exchange Commission, press releases, presentations by Conseco or its management or oral statements) relative to markets for Conseco's products and trends in Conseco's operations or financial results, as well as other statements including words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "should," "could," "goal," "target," "on track," "comfortable with," "optimistic" and other similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results to be materially different from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among other things: (1) general economic conditions and other factors, including prevailing interest rate levels, stock and credit market performance and health care inflation, which may affect (among other things) Conseco's ability to sell its products, its ability to make loans and access capital resources and the costs associated therewith, the market value of Conseco's investments, the lapse rate and profitability of policies, and the level of defaults and prepayments of loans made by Conseco; (2) Conseco's ability to achieve anticipated synergies and levels of operational efficiencies; (3) customer response to new products, distribution channels and marketing initiatives; (4) mortality, morbidity, usage of health care services and other factors which may affect the profitability of Conseco's insurance products; (5) performance of our investments; (6) changes in the Federal income tax laws and regulations which may affect the relative tax advantages of some of Conseco's products; (7) increasing competition in the sale of insurance and annuities and in the finance business; (8) regulatory changes or actions, including those relating to regulation of financial services affecting (among other things) bank sales and underwriting of insurance products, regulation of the sale, underwriting and pricing of products, and health care regulation affecting health insurance products; (9) the outcome of Conseco's efforts to sell assets and reduce, refinance or modify indebtedness and the availability and cost of capital in connection with this process; (10) actions by rating agencies and the effects of past or future actions by these agencies on Conseco's business; and (11) the risk factors or uncertainties listed from time to time in Conseco's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.