Boyd Gaming (BYD) Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

Thursday, October 23, 2025 at 5 p.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

President and Chief Executive Officer — Keith E. Smith

Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer — Josh Hirsberg

Vice President, Corporate Communications — David Strow

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RISKS

CEO Smith reported, "The shortfall really was all about the destination business, which has been kind of widely reported and talked about," with particular concentration at the Orleans property, indicating ongoing softness in this revenue stream.

Smith explained, "downtown volumes on the street are down, and that's frankly driven by visitation in Las Vegas. Because there's a strong, strong correlation between visitor volumes downtown and volumes to Las Vegas. And so visitation on the street is down, which is what kind of impacted what we call a destination business in the downtown area for us. You know, kind of our core market, is the Hawaiian market performed, you know, normally. But, you know, we felt softness in the destination business. We felt softness from lack of tourism on the street," pointing to persistent pressure in downtown Las Vegas visitation and related revenue.

Keith E. Smith said, "the property had gotten to a point where EBITDA was fairly small, and the level of capital maintenance capital required to maintain it at our standards, you know, was growing, and, frankly, there was not going to be a good return on that capital investment."

TAKEAWAYS

Total Revenues -- Revenues exceeded $1 billion for Q3 2025, reflecting continued company-wide topline growth.

Company-Wide EBITDAR -- $320 million EBITDAR for Q3 2025, with margins at 37%, matching the prior year.

Las Vegas Locals Segment Revenue -- $211 million for Q3 2025, with EBITDAR of $92 million; both up 2% year-over-year excluding the Orleans.

Las Vegas Locals Segment EBITDAR Margin -- 47%, unchanged from the prior year, sustained by operational efficiencies.

Midwest & South Segment Revenue -- Increased 3% to $539 million in Q3 2025, registering the segment's best result in three years.

Midwest & South EBITDAR -- $202 million EBITDAR for Q3 2025, more than 2% above prior year; segment margin again above 37%.

Online Segment EBITDAR Guidance -- Management raised guidance for this segment to $60 million in EBITDAR for this year. and set 2026 expectations at approximately $30 million in EBITDAR, reflecting FanDuel transaction changes.

Capital Expenditures -- $146 million invested in the quarter.

Share Repurchases and Dividends -- $160 million in stock buybacks and $15 million in dividends during Q3 2025; $637 million returned to shareholders year-to-date.

Share Count -- 78.6 million shares at quarter-end; an 11% reduction in our share count since the third quarter of last year and a 30% cumulative reduction in share count since October 2021.

Leverage -- Total leverage ratio dropped from 2.8x at the end of Q2 2025 to 1.5x at the end of Q3 2025 following the FanDuel stake sale; lease-adjusted leverage fell from 3.2x to 2.0x.

Development Pipeline -- Multiple capital projects on schedule, including Ameristar St. Charles meeting/convention center, Cadence Crossing property (2026 opening), Paradise facility (late 2026 construction), and a $750 million Norfolk, VA resort (2027 opening).

Managed Business Performance -- Continued growth in Sky River Casino management fees, with the first phase of expansion adding 400 slots and a 600-space garage in Q1 2026 and subsequent phases to follow.

Quarterly Dividend -- $0.18 per share paid.

SUMMARY

Management confirmed company-wide revenue and EBITDAR growth with stable margins, supported by resilient core customer play and enhanced operating efficiency. Capital allocation remained focused on portfolio reinvestment and significant quarterly shareholder returns, underpinned by a rapidly reduced leverage ratio from asset sales. The long-term development pipeline advanced with several growth projects moving forward on schedule in multiple geographies. Online business guidance was raised for the current year and adjusted downward for 2026 due to FanDuel transaction impacts and portfolio repositioning.

Hirsberg indicated, we generally think of kind of a 15% to 20% kind of cash-on-cash type of return. as the investment threshold for expansion and renovation projects.

CEO Smith described the promotional environment as more aggressive in certain markets but maintained, "We have generally remained very disciplined," as evidenced by consistent year-over-year segment margins.

Bookings for the next ninety days have improved sequentially in both locals and downtown segments.

Closure of the Tunica property was driven by declining EBITDA and rising maintenance capital needs, with recoverable assets redeployed and land planned for future disposition.

No quantifiable impact from the recent cybersecurity incident, as clarified by management, with operational continuity ensured by cyber insurance coverage.

Incremental benefit from recent tax legislation is expected but remains unquantified; management cited multiple elements, including new standard and tip-related deductions, as potential contributors to customer disposable income.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

EBITDAR: Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and rent; a performance measure used in gaming and hospitality to evaluate cash flow excluding rent expenses.

ADTs: Average Daily Theoretical; a casino industry term for expected average gaming win per player per day, used to segment customer value (implied from context).

Full Conference Call Transcript

Keith E. Smith: Thanks, David, and good afternoon, everyone. The third quarter was another quarter of growth for our company, with revenues once again exceeding $1 billion, while EBITDAR was $320 million for the quarter. After adjusting for our recent FanDuel transaction, we continue to deliver revenue and EBITDAR growth on a company-wide basis. Margins were consistent with the prior year at 37% as we successfully maintained efficiencies throughout our operations. During the third quarter, play from our core customers continued its long-term growth trend, and we saw further improvements in play from our retail customers. This strengthened play drove healthy gaming revenue growth across all three of our property operating segments and more than offset the weakness in destination business.

Across the portfolio, our results reflect continued broad-based improvements in customer demand, sustained operating and marketing efficiencies, and the success of our capital investments focused on enhancing our property offerings. Now turning to segment results. The Las Vegas locals segment posted revenues of $211 million and EBITDAR of $92 million for the quarter. Gaming revenues continued to grow during the quarter, driven by strong demand from our locals customers. We continue to benefit from ongoing growth in play from our core customers as well as improving trends in play from our retail customers. This growth in gaming revenue was offset by declines in our destination business, primarily at the Orleans.

Excluding the Orleans, our local segment delivered year-over-year growth of 2% in both revenues and EBITDAR, with gaming revenue growth in line with the broader locals market for the quarter, while margins for the third quarter were consistent with the prior year at 47%, supported by disciplined marketing and operating efficiencies. For the broader Las Vegas locals market as a whole, gaming revenue growth was up more than 3% over the last twelve months, reflecting the resilience of the locals market. The health of the locals market is supported by solid wage growth throughout Southern Nevada. Through August, average weekly wages were up more than 6% over the trailing twelve months, outpacing the national average.

Over the last ten years, the local population has grown at twice the national rate, reaching 2.4 million last year. And during the same time frame, per capita income in the Las Vegas Valley has grown by more than 5% on an annual basis, while total personal income in Southern Nevada has nearly doubled. An important driver of this growth has been the increasing diversification of the local economy. While hospitality has continued to grow over the past decade and currently represents approximately 25% of the local job market, job gains have been more substantial in other sectors. These include education, health services, transportation, warehousing, and professional and business services sectors.

Construction jobs have also remained a steady performer, growing more than 5% since February 2019. With more than $10 billion in projects currently underway across the Las Vegas Valley, construction employment should remain healthy well into the future. And as we head into next year's tax season, we believe that our customers around the country will benefit from a tax bill passed by Congress this summer, including new deductions for tips and overtime, an additional deduction for seniors, as well as a larger standard deduction for all taxpayers. In all, the Southern Nevada economy remains resilient and is more diversified than ever, positioning our Las Vegas locals business for continued success.

Next, in our Downtown Las Vegas segment, revenues and EBITDA were in line with the prior year, supported by continued strength in play from our Hawaiian customers. Much like our local segment, growth in gaming revenues offset softness in destination business, including lower hotel revenues and reduced pedestrian traffic along the Fremont Street Experience. Next, our Midwest and South segment achieved its strongest third quarter revenue and EBITDAR performance in three years. For the quarter, revenues rose 3% to $539 million, while EBITDAR grew to $202 million, more than 2% over the prior year. Operating margins once again exceeded 37% as we remain disciplined in our cost structure and marketing spend.

Growth in the segment was broad-based, including continued gains at Treasure Chest, more than a year after the opening of our new land-based facility there. Similar to our Nevada segments, gaming revenues increased year-over-year in the Midwest and South, driven by continued growth in play from our core customers and further improvements in play from our retail customers. Next, results in our online segment reflected growth from Boyd Interactive as well as changes related to our recent FanDuel transaction. Given current trends, we are increasing our guidance for this segment to $60 million in EBITDAR for this year. For 2026, we expect approximately $30 million in EBITDAR from this segment.

Finally, our managed business delivered another strong performance with continued growth in management fees from Sky River Casino. Demand has remained strong over the three years since Sky River opened, giving us and the Wilton Rancheria tribe great confidence in the growth potential of the property's ongoing expansion. The first phase of this expansion will add 400 slot machines and a 600-space parking garage upon completion in the first quarter of next year. Once this first phase is complete, we will begin a second phase that will further enhance Sky River's appeal by adding a 300-room hotel, three new food and beverage outlets, a full-service resort spa, and an entertainment and event center.

On its completion in mid-2027, we are confident this expansion will further strengthen Sky River's position as one of Northern California's leading gaming and entertainment destinations. In all, the third quarter was another quarter of growth for our company. Across the country, we continue to see strengthening play from our core customers and improvements in play from our retail customers against the backdrop of consistent and efficient property operations. While the fourth quarter has just started, it is worth noting that the customer trends we saw in the third quarter have continued into October, including improving play from both core and retail customers.

Our strong operating performance is supported by the investments we are making throughout our portfolio as we enhance our casino floors, food and beverage outlets, and hotel rooms. Hotel room renovations will be completed early next year at the IP, and work is set to begin next month on a room renovation project at the Orleans. We're also continuing our modernization project at Suncoast, the complete transformation of our casino floor as well as enhanced meeting and public spaces. While we are dealing with ongoing construction, we are encouraged that Suncoast's performance is in line with the prior year, further increasing our confidence in the long-term growth potential of this investment.

Following completion of our Suncoast renovations around the middle of next year, we plan to begin a similar project at the Orleans as we look to further enhance our offerings at this important property. In addition to these property enhancements, we're continuing to work on our growth capital projects with an annual budget of $100 million per year. In September, we completed our expanded meeting and convention center in Ameristar St. Charles. By nearly tripling the size of its meeting space, Ameristar can now accommodate more and larger events. This will create incremental visitation from new customers as well as groups who had previously outgrown our space.

We are already seeing great interest with strong bookings in the fourth quarter and into the next several years. In Southern Nevada, construction is progressing on Cadence Crossing, our newest Las Vegas locals property. Scheduled to open in 2026, Cadence Crossing will replace our existing Joker's Wild Casino with a modern and appealing gaming and entertainment facility. This investment will allow us to better serve the adjacent community of Cadence, one of the fastest-growing master-planned communities in the nation. And we are well-positioned to keep pace with continued residential growth in the area with future plans for a hotel, additional casino space, and more non-gaming amenities.

Next, in Illinois, we are continuing the design and planning work for our new gaming facility at Paradise and expect to start construction in late 2026, pending regulatory approval. Finally, development is well underway for our most significant growth opportunity, a $750 million resort development in Norfolk, Virginia. Pending regulatory approval, we are just a few weeks away from opening our transitional casino at the site. And while we look forward to reaching this key milestone, our focus remains on the development of our permanent resort scheduled to open in November 2027. This market-leading resort experience will feature a 65,000-square-foot casino, a 200-room hotel, eight food and beverage outlets, live entertainment, and an outdoor amenity deck.

In addition to offering the highest quality gaming experience in the market, we will have the most convenient location for much of the 1.8 million residents of the Hampton Roads region as well as the 15 million tourists who visit nearby Virginia Beach each year. In all, our capital investments are delivering strong returns for our company, enhancing our competitiveness and supporting our long-term growth. At the same time, our substantial free cash flow and strong balance sheet allow us to continue returning capital to our shareholders. During the third quarter, we repurchased $160 million in stock and paid $15 million in dividends. So far this year, we have returned a total of $637 million to our shareholders.

Share repurchases and dividends are important components of our balanced approach to capital allocation. We intend to maintain a pace of $150 million per quarter in share repurchases supplemented by our recurring dividend. In closing, we are pleased to deliver another quarter of strong performance as we continue to execute on our strategy and create long-term value for our shareholders. During the quarter, we continued to benefit from strong growth in play from our core customers as well as improving play from retail. Our capital investment program is delivering excellent returns and positioning us well for future growth. Teams across the country are successfully maintaining efficiencies and delivering consistent property operating results.

And we continue to return substantial capital to our shareholders, maintaining the strongest balance sheet in our company's history. Our success is a reflection of the dedication and contributions of thousands of Boyd Gaming team members across the country. We are grateful for all that they do for our company and our guests. Thank you for your time today. I would now like to turn the call over to Josh.

Josh Hirsberg: Thanks, Keith, and good afternoon, everyone. During the third quarter, play from our core customers continued its long-term growth trend, while retail customers' play also continued to improve. Management teams did their part, remaining focused on operating efficiently and generating returns from our capital investments. As a result, excluding the effects of our recent FanDuel transaction, we continue to deliver growth in revenue and EBITDAR, despite weakness in our destination business. We are continuing our capital investment program to enhance our guest experience while expanding our opportunities for growth. During the third quarter, we invested $146 million in capital, bringing year-to-date capital expenditures to $440 million. We now expect total capital expenditures for this year to be approximately $600 million.

Our capital plans include approximately $250 million in recurring maintenance capital, an additional $100 million in maintenance capital related to hotel room renovation projects, $100 million in growth capital, which includes the recently completed meeting and convention space at Ameristar St. Charles, and the ongoing Cadence Crossing development here in Las Vegas. And then finally, $150 million or so for our casino development in Virginia. Our growth capital projects remain on budget and on schedule. In terms of our shareholder capital return program, we paid a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share during the quarter, totaling $15 million.

Also during the quarter, as Keith mentioned, we repurchased $160 million in stock, acquiring 1.9 million shares at an average price of $84.05 per share. Actual shares outstanding at the end of the quarter were 78.6 million shares, an 11% reduction in our share count since the third quarter of last year. Since we began our capital return program in October 2021, we have returned more than $2.5 billion in the form of share repurchases and dividends while reducing our share count by 30%. Going forward, we intend to maintain repurchases of approximately $150 million per quarter, supplemented by our regular quarterly dividend. This equates to more than $650 million per year or more than $8 per share.

With strong free cash flow, low leverage, and ample liquidity, we are maintaining the strongest balance sheet in our company's history while continuing to invest in our business and return capital to shareholders. As you may recall, during the quarter, we closed on our transaction to sell our 5% stake in FanDuel. We initially used proceeds from that transaction to repay our term loan A balance and borrowings outstanding under our revolver. As a result, our total leverage ratio declined from 2.8 times at the end of the second quarter to 1.5 times at the end of the third quarter. Our lease-adjusted leverage declined from 3.2 times to 2.0 times.

Finally, beginning with this quarter's financial results, we have provided the tax pass-through amounts as a separate line item on our GAAP income statement. Excluding the tax pass-through amount for this quarter, company-wide margins for the third quarter this year would have been five to ten basis points above the margin we reported. In conclusion, with strong play from our core customers and improving trends among our retail customers, efficient operations, robust free cash flow, and a strong balance sheet, we have outstanding flexibility to continue executing our strategy for creating long-term value for our shareholders. With that, I'd like to turn the call to David to open the call for questions. David?

David Strow: Thank you, Josh. We will now begin our question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star then 1 on your touch-tone phone. You will hear a three-tone prompt acknowledging your request. Should you wish to withdraw your request, please press star then 2. If you're using a speakerphone, please use your handset when asking your question. We will pause for a moment while we compile our list of questioners. Our first question comes from Barry Jonas of Truist. Barry, please go ahead.

Barry Jonathan Jonas: Hey, guys. I wanted to start on Vegas. Can you talk about what you see as the main drivers of the weakness you're seeing in the destination business? And just help us feel comfort that, you know, you think the non-destination business won't see any of that related weakness? Thank you.

Keith E. Smith: So maybe starting with the second half of your question. I think as we noted, we've seen strong play from our core customers. And as we look at the database here and the source of our revenue here in Las Vegas, you know, our locals customers are performing extremely well. Our core customers are growing extremely well. The shortfall really was all about the destination business, which has been kind of widely reported and talked about. How long that continues, you know, we'll all have to see. We have seen, as we look at our kind of forward ninety-day bookings in our hotels here in Las Vegas, we've seen improvements.

Still soft, but certainly better results than we saw three months ago. So have we turned the corner? Hard to say, but the ninety-day booking results certainly look better than they did three months ago. And, Barry, one thing I would add to Keith's remarks is when we, you know, pretty much the impact of the destination business, as we said in our remarks, is focused on the Orleans. So when you separate the Orleans from the rest of the portfolio, you see a couple of things going on. You see growth in gaming revenues throughout the remainder of the portfolio. You see growth in overall revenues. You see growth in EBITDAR. You see consistency in margins.

So I think, you know, we see and the gaming revenue kind of is growing in line with the overall market. So I think we feel pretty good about the underlying customer trends overall. It's just one aspect of the business that we're trying to deal with. And in fact, when you look at the segment's performance, you could really attribute the EBITDAR decline in Q3 all to the Orleans because it was down even more than what we're seeing in the segment for the quarter.

Barry Jonathan Jonas: Got it. That's really helpful. And then just as a follow-up, you know, we're starting to see some M&A deals come about. Curious if you could share your thoughts on the M&A pipeline, the environment, either in terms of buying whole assets or opcos? Thank you.

Keith E. Smith: We obviously have a fairly successful track record of M&A, you know, based on a disciplined strategy of making sure it's the right asset in the right market at the right price. And so we continue to look at it. We certainly note that a few things have traded recently. I don't know that we're, you know, necessarily seeing more pitch books across our desk, but we're certainly paying attention and monitoring opportunities. And, you know, for the right opportunity, we're certainly prepared to dig in. But other than that, I'm not sure we have a whole lot to comment on.

Barry Jonathan Jonas: Great. Thank you so much.

Keith E. Smith: Yep.

David Strow: Thank you. Our next question comes from Steve Wieczynski of Stifel. Steve, please go ahead.

Steven Moyer Wieczynski: Yes. Hey, guys. Good afternoon. So, Keith or Josh, if we think about the Midwest and South properties, I mean, those results were really solid, came in much better than we were expecting. So if you think about that portfolio, wondering if the trends you witnessed there were pretty much, you know, broad-based or there were markets or pockets of strength versus other markets? I guess, just trying to figure out if certain markets are kind of outperforming other markets. And obviously, you guys called out Treasure Chest. So I guess excluding Treasure Chest.

Keith E. Smith: I think when we look across that portfolio that comprises some 17 properties, it was generally broad-based. Look, there's always one or two that don't perform maybe quite as strong in any given quarter, but it generally was broad-based strong results. We called out Treasure Chest because it's, you know, interesting to us and very positive that it continues to grow even, you know, even after anniversarying its opening. So Josh, I don't know if you have anything to add.

Josh Hirsberg: Not really, Keith. I think that covers it.

Steven Moyer Wieczynski: Okay. And then, Keith or Josh, a little bit of a bigger picture question. But wondering if you kind of take a step back and look at your biggest locals assets, how do you think they're positioned today from a CapEx perspective? I mean, what I mean is do you think the majority of your assets in that market are in a pretty good spot relative to your peers in that region? And, you know, or is it something where you guys might have to spend a little bit more across your portfolio over the next couple of years to keep up with some of that newer supply? I heard your comment about Orleans and Suncoast there.

Keith E. Smith: Right. So look. We've been talking about the renovation work we're doing at the Suncoast for, you know, over the last year or so. And so that has been, I think, a very positive investment for us. You know, we're not even fully through it yet, and we're seeing, you know, performance that's in line with the prior year. So it gives us confidence that this will be a successful investment. And look, the Orleans needs a little bit of an updating also. It's an important asset for us. But other than that, I think our portfolio of properties here in Las Vegas is well-positioned.

You know, we're looking at a number of restaurant projects just as part of our overall capital plan to make sure the properties remain competitive. It's not significant capital, but it's important capital to be competitive. So you look at our slot floors, and I would put them on par with anybody's in the market and probably better than most. And so I think we feel pretty good with the exception of once again wanting and needing to make, I think, an important investment in the Orleans to make sure it's competitive for the long term.

Steven Moyer Wieczynski: Okay. Gotcha. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

Keith E. Smith: Thank you.

David Strow: Our next question comes from David Katz of Jefferies. David, please go ahead.

David Brian Katz: Evening. Thanks for taking my question. So I just wanted to get your updated thoughts on, you know, the investments that you're making internally in the portfolio. And how you're thinking about returns, the timing to those returns or hurdle rates, and, you know, just it'll help us think about forecasting out into the future. But, you know, what's the return process and how should we think about the earning potential on it?

Josh Hirsberg: Yep. Hey, Dave. It's Josh. I'll take it and then Keith can jump in and add anything. You know, generally, I think kind of for good rule of thumb and modeling purposes, we generally think of kind of a 15% to 20% kind of cash-on-cash type of return. And so, you know, we certainly achieved that with Treasure Chest. I think we're seeing the early signs of achievement with that with the meeting space at Ameristar St. Charles. The next one up will be Cadence, which is like a $60 million investment. So, you know, that'll be in that.

We fully expect that property once it comes online to generate incremental EBITDA of what we're getting today from the current Joker's Wild facility that would generate that return. And then after that, I think we're more dependent on regulatory approval for Paradise. But we're excited about that opportunity. So a good rule of thumb is that 15% to 20%. We've been fortunate enough to meet or exceed that on the projects that we've announced to date. We have, as we've tried to condition the market to think about kind of a pipeline of these projects, and we'll continue to kind of vet or choose the ones that have the highest return potential throughout.

A lot of the stuff around Suncoast, most of the hotel renovations, even the Orleans will be in our maintenance capital budgets. But as Keith mentioned, you know, the early signs at Suncoast are, you know, we're seeing new customers in the building. We're seeing people visit more frequently, and so we're encouraged by those types of investments even though they kind of qualify in our book as maintenance capital. So, I hope that kind of gives you some color.

David Brian Katz: It does. And if I can just follow-up and clarify when we're thinking about the Orleans, you know, because it's in the maintenance budget, you know, we aren't necessarily sort of holding it to the same, you know, standard or thinking about its earnings power longer term in the same way with that 15% or 20%, right?

Josh Hirsberg: Yeah. I think that's right. Because it gets to be a blend of maintenance and growth, and it's just hard to kind of distinguish between, you know, kind of what that project is. Is it more maintenance or is it more growth? So I think that's why we put it in maintenance, really.

David Brian Katz: I gotcha. Thank you very much.

David Strow: Thank you. Our next question comes from Brandt Montour of Barclays. Brandt, please go ahead.

Brandt Antoine Montour: Hello, everybody. Thanks for taking my question. So the question is just a clarification about the Orleans project for next year you mentioned. Is that, I mean, you know, I imagine your hotel rooms, you mentioned a few things. Is that something we should consider some potentially some disruption impact? I know that, you know, it's got easy comps here. And there's a couple of different things going on in the market that's affecting that property. So how do you think about that property next year?

Josh Hirsberg: So, you know, I think it's a little early to try to figure out kind of disruption. I don't think our view would be that at the beginning of a project like that, if we're even able to get it started in the second half of next year, it'd be more limited in terms of the disruption. Once we understand the actual program scope and the timing, we can provide better color on that. Our management teams at Suncoast have done a very good job to manage through the disruption to date at that property, and it's been, and that construction activity continues. So we're learning how to manage those processes. Each one will be unique and different.

But to date, we've been pretty good at managing through it at the Suncoast. No doubt it is affecting our performance in some way. But the fact that it is, like Keith said, in line with the prior year at this point, that's pretty encouraging. So I think at this point, we wouldn't be calling out expectations for disruption related to Orleans until we have better clarity on timing and the full scope of the project. Keith, I don't know if you want to add to that.

Keith E. Smith: No. I think just tagging on with what Josh said, as you're thinking about 2026 and thinking about the Orleans, I wouldn't anticipate anything significant. You know, as we begin to have more clarity on the timing of all of that, and what's going to take place first and second, and, you know, when we end up getting to, quote, unquote, the middle of the casino, which, yes, will have some disruption as we get into those types of things, you know, we'll be able to update you. At this point, as you're modeling out 2026, I wouldn't anticipate anything.

Brandt Antoine Montour: Great. That's helpful. Just a quick second question about Midwest and South. How would you describe the promotional environment across your markets? Any sort of changes quarter over quarter, or has it been pretty consistent from competitors?

Keith E. Smith: So in several markets, you know, there have been competitors who've been, you know, stepping on the gas, so to speak, with respect to marketing spend and being more aggressive. We have generally remained very disciplined. It is reflective in our margins that remain consistent year to year. And, you know, while we may be up just a tick, just a little bit overall, once again, it is highly efficient, highly productive dollars. Reflected in, we're able to grow revenue, we're able to grow EBITDA, and we're able to maintain margin. So we are seeing some enhanced marketing by our competitors, but we're not responding.

Frankly, some of the enhanced marketing we're doing is in relation to declines in destination business, not in relation to what our competitors are doing.

Brandt Antoine Montour: Great. Thanks, everyone.

David Strow: Thank you. Our next question comes from Ben Chaiken of Mizuho. Ben, please go ahead.

Benjamin Nicolas Chaiken: Hey, thanks for taking my questions. On the Suncoast renovation, you mentioned in line with the prior year a few times, but I would think that there was still some disruption. So to the extent there was, could you quantify that impact in 3Q? And then maybe how you're thinking about 4Q even if just anecdotally? Thanks.

Keith E. Smith: Yeah. I'd love to, but it's really difficult to quantify the disruption. Look, when we say it was in line with the prior year, you know, from a revenue and EBITDA perspective, I think that says it all. There's clearly disruption. We have fewer slots on the floor today than we did a year ago because we're in the middle of the casino. There are a lot of walls up. There's ceiling work being done, so it is disruptive. And it will continue to be disruptive. If you were to walk in the building today, we have a temporary front desk because we're doing work around the front desk area.

But to date and through Q3, we'd expect it to be through Q4. You know, things are in line with the prior year. Our customers are, you know, hanging in there with us. The management team is doing a great job of taking care of our guests. The guests have had very, very strong positive reactions to what we've unveiled thus far. And so everything's working, but hard to quantify.

Benjamin Nicolas Chaiken: Okay. Understood. And then you've got a large expansion at Sky River, I believe, that opens early next year. 1Q, I believe. Understanding your management fees here, is there anything we need to watch out for in Q4 in terms of construction just ahead of that opening?

Keith E. Smith: From a construction standpoint, everything is on the outside of the building. And so there really isn't any impact to, you know, on the negative side to the ongoing construction or, quote, unquote, the opening whenever that happens sometime early next year. It's a parking garage along with some added casino space that will house the added slots. The second phase that I described includes a hotel tower, it's more restaurants, also is on the outside of the building. And so there'll be no immediate impact or construction disruption from that. Thanks.

Benjamin Nicolas Chaiken: Thank you.

David Strow: Our next question comes from Steve Pizzella of Deutsche Bank. Steve, please go ahead.

Steven Donald Pizzella: Good evening. Thanks for taking my question. Just curious, as we think about early next year, can you share any expectations you might have for a benefit from the tax bill?

Josh Hirsberg: Steve, I mean, it's a question we get asked quite a bit. We've not really found a way that we're comfortable to kind of quantify the overall benefit from that. You know, there's several elements to it. And I think Keith mentioned them in his remarks, ranging from tax on tips to certain higher standard deductions and credits for seniors. I think, ultimately, we come away thinking it's just an incremental benefit to us overall. But we have not quantified it in terms of revenue and EBITDAR.

Steven Donald Pizzella: Okay. Great. Thank you.

David Strow: Our next question comes from John DeCree of CB. John, please go ahead.

John G. DeCree: Hi, Josh. Hi, Keith. Good afternoon.

Keith E. Smith: Hi, John.

John G. DeCree: Josh or Keith, I wanted to ask if you could provide a little color on kind of how the quarter played out and maybe cadence month to month. We kind of used the state GGR data to help us, but July and August looked pretty strong. September, maybe a little bit more mixed. So, you know, any color you could give us on, you know, kind of how the quarter played out, you know, particularly in the Midwest and South regions?

Keith E. Smith: I think as we look across our portfolio, it was fairly steady. You know, you have to take into account, like, in September where the holiday fell different, and therefore, we got a little bit bigger benefit technically in August than we did in September. But, you know, that's over the course of a ten-day period. Flips in one month versus the other. But when we look at kind of core trends in the business week to week, not a lot of fluctuation. Not a lot of fluctuation. So I don't have anything else to add other than that.

John G. DeCree: That's great, Keith. Thank you. And then maybe I know this one's difficult to kind of track given the limited data, but curious if you could give us a little bit more color, again, in the Midwest and South, specifically on the retail play, some of the better trends you're seeing there. Is that kind of year-over-year growth in kind of spend, you know, more customers coming in the door? And, you know, if you have any guesses or theories, kind of what might be driving that uptick in retail play?

Keith E. Smith: So it's a trend that actually has been going on for a couple of quarters now. We've actually been talking about it, and it continued through the third quarter. With the improvements kind of increasing, so to speak. I think we're seeing generally on the rated side, you know, increases in frequency and increases in spend. So both ADT or spend are going up and frequency is increasing. These are positive trends. Josh, I don't know if there's anything else to add.

Josh Hirsberg: Yeah. I would just add, you know, just to clarify for everyone, retail comp is two buckets. It's the lower end of the rated. That's what Keith was just talking about in terms of spend and frequency. And then there's the unrated component as well. So we can kind of understand what's going on with the lower end of the rated piece. What's interesting as a group is the unrated business has also been improving sequentially over time as well and actually been a big driver of the retail component.

So, you know, both the low end of the retail rated piece that we know about and the unrated segment have both been kind of in lockstep improving year over year as we've moved through this year. So and it's been a consistent trend. It's been very interesting to watch.

John G. DeCree: Sounds good. Thanks, Josh. Thank you, Keith.

Keith E. Smith: Yes. Thank you.

David Strow: Our next question comes from Dan Politzer of JPMorgan. Dan, please go ahead.

Daniel Brian Politzer: Hey, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. I was wondering, maybe we can walk through the fourth quarter. Seems like there's a few moving pieces there. So maybe just to get some clarity, I think Tunica is closing in November. The Norfolk, I think there's a temporary casino that opens also in November. And then I don't know if you gave, I don't think you gave an update for managed and other, but then also that would help. But then any impact from the cybersecurity incident in the quarter? Thanks.

Keith E. Smith: I think as you think about Tunica, you know, you should expect, obviously, a fairly negligible impact. I wouldn't adjust your models for anything related to that or for Norfolk for that matter. We've talked in previous calls about this being a very small, modest temporary facility. And our focus really is on the permanent. And so you assume that this will be a breakeven as you think about the fourth quarter, even next year. As you think about the cyber event, once again, not much we can say other than what was in the K. Which is it did not have any impact on our business operation. And, you know, we've got cyber insurance to backstop us.

There was a third question in there I lost track of. One of them. The managed account. I'll let you answer that.

Josh Hirsberg: So managed and other, I think, you know, the key for managed and other is it's going to be a pretty stable business in Q4 relative to when you think about the trends of this year just because, you know, the business is operating at or very near capacity. And then once it gets the incremental slots early next year, that's in the quarters following that, I think, is where we'll start to see the benefit of that. And then eventually, from the expansion of the hotel and meeting space in mid probably, mid-2027.

So I think for managed and other for Q4, it'll be very similar to what you've seen in the quarters of the other earlier quarters of this year.

Daniel Brian Politzer: Got it. And then just for my follow-up, I don't think you paid the taxes in the quarter on the FanDuel stake sale. When can we expect that? And then along with the tax front, the one big bill, is there any impact or, you know, offset you could get from that may be applied here?

Josh Hirsberg: Not much of an offset. More than likely, the payment will occur sometime in the first quarter of next year.

Daniel Brian Politzer: Thanks so much.

Keith E. Smith: Yep.

David Strow: Thank you. Our next question comes from Stephen Grambling of Morgan Stanley. Stephen, please go ahead.

Stephen White Grambling: Hey, thank you. I was hoping you could dig into the balance sheet a little bit. How are you thinking about the optimal leverage of the business, particularly if M&A opportunities maybe don't come to fruition? Could we see that leverage tick back up? Or what would you be looking to do in terms of optimizing the balance sheet longer term?

Josh Hirsberg: Yes, Steve. So, you know, before the FanDuel transaction, our leverage was about 2.8 times. And our leverage target was around 2.5 times long term. Post, as a result of the FanDuel transaction, which happened in late July, early August, our leverage is, as I stated in my remarks, around one and a half times. I think based on just the capital plans that we have now, primarily related to Virginia coming up, you know, the capital related to the permanent of Virginia, our leverage will tick up over time. It'll go back up to around probably in the next year and a half or so to around two and a half times.

I think, you know, it's odd to talk about your optimal leverage being, at least for us, it's odd for optimal leverage to be above where a target above where we are. But I think that, you know, it doesn't, it's not a, it's not something we strive to achieve given where we are today. To the extent that we have opportunities, I guess the way I would say it, in other words, we're not trying to hit the target just because we're at one and a half times, and we be at our target leverage. It could be that our leverage remains at one and a half times over time. We don't, that's probably the right leverage.

But we don't have anything that warrants increasing our leverage at this point. And so, you know, we'll continue to think through this and continue to be kind of prudent on how we think about it. But, you know, it's kind of like we were in a good place and doing everything we were doing at two and a half times. Happened to get a big windfall. Or one and a half times. And that doesn't really change the way we think about anything that we were doing before. If opportunities come along, if we decide to buy back more shares or return more capital, then that'll be just part of our thought process that we develop over time.

But until then, we'll be running the business between one and a half and two times, and it'll gradually tick up as a result of our capital plans. And the plans we have in place today. Keith, I don't know if there's anything you want to add to that.

Keith E. Smith: No. Look. I think what Josh was alluding to is, you know, first, it's only been less than ninety days since we received the payment, and leverage has been, you know, pushed down to one and a half. And we want to take a long-term view, be thoughtful about what to do with the current leverage. How best to position the company. Could be M&A, could be other things, could tick back up. So we don't have an answer for you right now other than, you know, we understand it. And, you know, we're having thoughtful discussions about, you know, where that should be.

I'm sure we'll have more to talk to you about in future quarters, but nothing really to say right now.

Stephen White Grambling: That all makes sense. If I can sneak one unrelated follow-up in, you know, if you look at the locals market and you talked about this 6% wage growth there, seems like it's about as wide as I've seen it relative to the GGR growth for that market in aggregate. Do you think there's a lead lag here, or is there anything else that you would point out that's maybe creating that wider gap versus history? Thanks.

Josh Hirsberg: Yeah. So, Steve, I think that, like, I mean, it's a good observation, but I think it, you perhaps, at least in our business, the impact of the destination business is not shown and visible on the income statement when you look at hotel revenues year over year. You can look at that, see they were down about $5 million. But that destination business is a significant amount of hotel room nights. While it's primarily at the Orleans, it affected really every property in Las Vegas and outside of Las Vegas to some degree. And there is F&B. There's banquet business that's highly profitable to us. And there's a significant amount of gaming revenue associated with that business.

So it's very profitable business to us. And while it's very difficult to estimate the impact, I think the reality is that's probably what's creating that gap. There's wage growth that we're seeing show up in our business in terms of a stronger local customer. But if you had backed up and said, okay, we had that wage growth and destination business, you would see probably a healthy gaming revenue growth that would mirror maybe what your expectations were. So that's how I think about it at least.

Stephen White Grambling: That's helpful. Thank you.

David Strow: Thank you. Our next question comes from David Hargreaves of Barclays. David, please go ahead.

David Hargreaves: Hi. So in terms of Hawaii, I think you said revenue was steady. I'm wondering about headcount and volumes. How are things there?

Keith E. Smith: Specifically coming out of Hawaii?

David Hargreaves: Yes.

Keith E. Smith: Well, downtown. Look. You know, downtown volumes on the street are down, and that's frankly driven by visitation in Las Vegas. Because there's a strong, strong correlation between visitor volumes downtown and volumes to Las Vegas. And so visitation on the street is down, which is what kind of impacted what we call a destination business in the downtown area for us. You know, kind of our core market, is the Hawaiian market performed, you know, normally. But, you know, we felt softness in the destination business. We felt softness from lack of tourism on the street.

David Hargreaves: Okay. And then with respect to the Tunica closure, I'm just wondering if there's, you know, just leaving the building and leaving town, something that maybe happens with the gaming equipment. Did you try to sell that property? Curious as to what happened there.

Keith E. Smith: I think the way to think about, you know, the closure of Tunica, first of all, when we're all done with this, you know, the site will be scraped clean. We'll take everything down. We've already found homes for the equipment and, you know, all the recoverable assets, so to speak, in the building.

You know, the property had gotten to a point where EBITDA was fairly small, and the level of capital maintenance capital required to maintain it at our standards, you know, was growing, and, frankly, there was not going to be a good return on that capital investment to maintain the building or standards because we do have, you know, standards as to how we want our buildings to look and feel and what we want our guests to experience. And so, you know, we're just looking at the data, looking at the maintenance capital that's going to be required. And the current level of EBITDA and where the market is, it just made sense to close the building down.

Not a decision we came to lightly, but it's a decision we came to. And once again, we will be able to reuse a lot of the gear and a lot of the equipment, sell off some stuff that we don't have use for. Everything will be scraped clean. It'll be turned back into just raw land, and we'll attempt to dispose of the land.

David Hargreaves: Last one. Thank you. I really applaud your conservatism with the balance sheet. If we look at your properties that are leased, are you happy with the EBITDA coverage of interest and rent at this point? As you are, you know, with your leverage? How do you feel about the rent coverage picture?

Josh Hirsberg: Yeah. I think we're happy with it, and our landlord's happy with it, quite honestly. They don't have a corporate guarantee, but they really don't need one given the coverage there. So everything's a happy partnership there.

David Hargreaves: Great. Thank you so much.

David Strow: Our last question comes from Chad Beynon of Macquarie. Chad, please go ahead.

Chad C. Beynon: Hi, good afternoon, Josh and Keith. Thanks for taking my question. First one on the opening or start of Missouri sports betting. I know you have a partnership with Fanatics. I believe it might be the first with them. And I know that includes some of their branded retail sports books at your property. So could you maybe talk about anything you're willing to disclose in terms of the relationship and then maybe future opportunities with this company given their ascension on market share that we've been able to track? Thank you.

Keith E. Smith: Yeah. So you're right. We have two properties in Missouri, Ameristar Kansas City and Ameristar St. Charles. And both of them received, you know, licenses as did Fanatics yesterday when the Missouri Gaming Commission, you know, issued licenses so people could be prepared to open on December 1. It is our first relationship with Fanatics. And whether or not that expands, always hard to tell. It's a strong relationship thus far. We know some of the folks in that organization, so we have a good relationship there. And we'll see, once again, how it develops and what other opportunities exist to, you know, take that relationship further. Nothing really to report other than that at this point.

Chad C. Beynon: Okay. Great. And then in terms of some of the near-term, I guess, inflection in Vegas in the destination market, you know, we met with a lot of the companies on the strip in the past couple of weeks, and, you know, some pointed to November, others obviously talked about F1 maybe being more of a good guy this year and then should all of that strength into Q1, you know, help you as well? And in terms of internal bookings, are you viewing maybe November as kind of an inflection point where you're starting to see, you know, good year-over-year growth? I guess that would be more downtown.

Maybe excluding Orleans with some of the things that you've talked about. Thank you.

Keith E. Smith: So once again, I noted earlier that as we look at our kind of ninety-day booking pattern, today, sitting here today, or, you know, a week or so ago, it is much more positive than it was three months ago. And it's still soft, but it is significantly better than it was three months ago. And so that makes us, you know, feel good about kind of the next several months, you know, given those numbers. And that's, you know, true for downtown as well as it is for our locals properties with hotels. So, you know, we'll see how it all comes together as the strip continues to do better.

Does occupancy and rate on the strip continue to rebound? Clearly, that will benefit us. You know, it's just an indication that people are traveling again and coming back out. So, you know, that will help us. But overall, our own bookings are once again getting better over the next ninety days than they were a couple of months ago.

Chad C. Beynon: Thanks, Keith. Appreciate it.

Keith E. Smith: Yep.

David Strow: Thank you. This concludes our question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the call over to Josh for concluding remarks.

Josh Hirsberg: Thanks, David, and thanks to everyone for joining the call and the questions we received today. If you have any follow-ups, please feel free to reach out to the company. This concludes our call and you can now disconnect. Have a good day.

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