MGM Resorts (MGM) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026 at 5 p.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Chief Executive Officer — William Joseph Hornbuckle
• Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer — Jonathan S. Halkyard
• Chief Operating Officer — Ayesha Molino
• Chief Executive Officer, MGM China — Kenneth Zhang

TAKEAWAYS

• Consolidated Net Revenue Growth -- 6% increase reported, positioning the company for further progress.
• Record EBITDA in Macau -- Achieved record fourth quarter and full year EBITDA in the Macau segment, driven by premium mass customers and stable high margins.
• Market Share in Macau -- MGM China reached 16.5% share in the quarter and maintained above 16% for the full year, the highest annual level in company history.
• Las Vegas EBITDAR Decline -- 4% year-over-year decrease in the fourth quarter, offset by stabilization trends and room inventory return.
• MGM Grand Room Renovation Impact -- $65,000,000 total EBITDA disruption in 2025, with the room inventory now fully available.
• BetMGM EBITDA Turnaround -- Achieved nearly $470,000,000 improvement in annual EBITDA and distributed $135,000,000 to MGM in the quarter.
• BetMGM 2026 Guidance -- Adjusted EBITDA guidance set at $300,000,000 to $350,000,000, with $50,000,000 in expected CapEx.
• Monthly Player Volumes at BetMGM -- Increased 24% during 2025, while active player days rose 14%.
• Digital Initiative Performance -- MGM Digital's net revenue grew 35% across international markets, including Sweden and Brazil.
• Share Repurchases -- 37,500,000 shares repurchased in 2025 for $1,200,000,000 at an average price of $32.43, reducing the share count by nearly 50% over five years.
• Regional Operations Slot Win -- Record fourth quarter and full year slot win with a 2% increase in fourth quarter net revenue, accompanied by stable EBITDAR.
• Las Vegas Luxury Segment Growth -- Bellagio and ARIA properties delivered a combined 7% rise in EBITDAR.
• Digital Check-In Adoption -- 18% rise in digital check-ins, reducing the average check-in time to 1.5 minutes versus 6.5 minutes at the traditional front desk.
• MGM China Branding Fee -- Rate doubled from 1.75% to 3.5%, which management stated will result in over $50,000,000 incremental cash flow, effective through concession life with potential for 20-year extension.
• Expense Growth Control -- "We will be able to hold our overall expense growth to the very, very low single digits this year," said CFO Halkyard.
• Capital Commitment to MGM Osaka -- 2026 funding commitment estimated at $350,000,000-$400,000,000, secured with a yen-denominated credit facility.
• Sale of Northfield Park -- On track to close in the first half of 2026, supporting liquidity.
• Recurring High-Margin Cash Sources -- Growing distributions from MGM China branding fees and BetMGM highlighted as reliable cash generators.
• Lease Escalators -- Triple-net property leases capped at 2% escalation for the first 10 years, followed by a 3% cap for the next decade, supporting predictable rent expenses.
• 2026 Las Vegas Convention and Group Nights -- Record future group and convention room nights booked, comprising a mix closer to 20% of total room nights for 2026.

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RISKS

• CFO Halkyard reported, "Las Vegas EBITDAR declined 4% year over year, an improvement versus the declines experienced earlier this year," with Luxor and Excalibur properties continuing to have a "disproportionate impact" on the segment's decline.
• Management noted persistent weakness in "value customer habits" and ongoing need to address soft Canadian and leisure travel segments to fully restore Las Vegas growth.

SUMMARY

MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) delivered consolidated net revenue growth of 6% and set new records for Macau segment EBITDA, amid strategic expansion and robust digital momentum. The company's Las Vegas operations showed signs of stabilization despite a 4% EBITDAR decline, driven by room inventory recovery and high-end demand. BetMGM achieved a nearly $470,000,000 EBITDA turnaround and distributed $135,000,000 to the parent, with player metrics surging. Cost control initiatives held overall expense growth to the low single digits, and the company reduced its share count by almost half over five years through substantial buybacks. Capital allocation remains focused on liquidity generation, Osaka development, and furthering digital and international growth initiatives.

• Las Vegas room inventory disruption, notably at MGM Grand, is entirely resolved, with no major renovation exposure until late 2026, supporting 2026 earnings visibility.
• MGM China’s branding fee will double in 2026, delivering over $50,000,000 incremental cash flow and providing alignment for long-term brand value capture.
• Management confirmed all large-scale expansion projects, including MGM Osaka and Bellagio Dubai, remain on time and on budget, extending the multiyear growth pipeline.
• Recurring distributions from MGM China and BetMGM now provide high-margin, dependable cash flows, supporting internal funding for share repurchases and new growth investments.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• EBITDAR: Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and rent expense, used here as a measure of property-level profitability in hospitality/gaming operations.
• RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room, a performance metric calculated by dividing a hotel’s total room revenue by the number of available rooms, excluding out-of-service inventory.
• RevPOR: Revenue per Occupied Room, measuring total revenue earned per occupied hotel room, including non-room revenue components where specified by management.
• Hold: The percentage of gaming wagers retained by the casino; higher or lower "hold" can meaningfully impact reported gaming (table/slot) revenue in a given period.
• Premium Mass: A segment of gaming customers in Macau who bet in higher denominations than mass-market guests but without the incentives given to traditional VIPs; a major profit driver.
• Omnichannel: Integration of digital and physical customer touchpoints and experiences, a recurring theme in MGM’s engagement strategies with guests.

Full Conference Call Transcript

William Joseph Hornbuckle. Thank you, Howard. To everyone dialing in, we truly appreciate your flexibility in joining us this earlier-than-expected call and look forward to providing you with some important color and detail about our fourth quarter and full year performance. Before I get started, I would like to introduce everyone on today's earnings call to Ayesha Molino, our new Chief Operating Officer. Ayesha was previously our Chief Public Affairs Officer, and President and Chief Operating Officer of ARIA and Vdara, which flourished under her leadership, and we are thrilled to have her in the COO role.

I also want to congratulate Kenny Zhang, who has been leading the MGM China President and Executive Director since 2020, and is no stranger to these earnings calls, on his recent promotion to Chief Executive Officer of MGM China. And finally, I would like to congratulate Tian Han on his promotion to Chief Operating Officer. Tian has also been integral to the success of MGM China in recent years, and I am extremely excited to see the great things the entire Macau team does going forward.

MGM Resorts International is the leading global integrated resort operator across physical and digital channels, converging gaming and hospitality with entertainment and sports, and this diversity helped us once again achieve consolidated growth for the fourth quarter and the full year 2025. It is worth noting some of our key accomplishments last year. Achieving record fourth quarter and full year EBITDA in Macau while maintaining margins and outsized market share throughout the year. Accomplishing a nearly $470,000,000 EBITDA turnaround at our BetMGM North America venture, which commenced distribution to its parents in the fourth quarter.

Breaking ground in MGM Osaka, which we believe will be the world's longest integrated resort upon opening, and investing in upgrading experiences across our portfolio from dining to enhanced VIP gaming environments in Las Vegas, our regional operations and most notably in Macau. These, along with other successes throughout the year, drove growth in consolidated net revenues of 6% and positioned us well for further progress into 2026. Last year marked a return to a more balanced environment after several years of exceptional growth in Las Vegas. And even with the Las Vegas-specific headwinds, we were able to achieve record full year slot win in 2025 driven by our luxury offerings.

From this reset baseline, we see a path to grow in Las Vegas for the full year of 2026. First off, we will benefit from a full year contribution from the various capital projects completed last year, including and notably MGM Grand's room renovation. We had anywhere from 700 to 1,000 rooms offline per day for most of last year, but that will not be the case in 2026. We have received tremendous positive feedback on the refreshed product and are excited to have the full complement of rooms available this year.

Other projects completed mid to late 2025 include the high-limit slot rooms at Bellagio, and additions to our already deep roster of elite dining experiences with Carbone Riviera here at Bellagio and Gymkhana at ARIA. Within the group and convention channel, we are experiencing mid-single-digit revenue growth in 2026. This year's mix will be closer to 20%, and the quality of the groups, I feel, has improved because of meticulous action carried out last year focused on improving profitability.

To date, we have had solid performances during citywide events, including CES in January, and we are excited for the return of CONEXPO with expectations of getting back to 2023 attendance and achieving more than our fair share among the 140,000 attendees arriving into Las Vegas. Even more exciting is the fact that we have group and convention room nights on the books for future years than we have ever had in our history. While the 2026 event calendar can continue to fill out, we are seeing comparable arena-capacity citywide events relative to last year, which will help provide stabilization levels of business given the proximity of properties to the golden triangle of venues, Allegiant, T-Mobile, MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Tentpole events such as Formula One also continue to drive visitation, where this year, our Strip properties saw higher room rates and increased cash ticket sales at the Bellagio Fountain Club, which remains the premier ultra-luxury hospitality venue to watch the race. Continuing to invest where we see the greatest growth potential in our luxury offerings, this includes casino operations. We are out to improve on the success of last year's first one-of-a-kind invitation-only gaming experiences, bringing previously unheard-of prize purses into a $5,000,000 slot tournament and a $10,000,000 baccarat tournament. We will be hosting both of those tournaments again this year.

We are also busy continuing to innovate, especially around the opportunities provided by the geographic proximity of major events, including this weekend's Super Bowl in Northern California and the international visitation accompanying the upcoming World Cup, given several matches taking place in Los Angeles and Southern California. We know these programs are working as our two top luxury offerings, Bellagio and ARIA, together saw a 7% increase in EBITDAR in 2025.

We also continue to build on efficiencies driven by our technology innovation, which drove an 18% increase in digital check-ins that have resulted in a significant improvement to check-in speed, which now averages one and a half minutes versus six and a half minutes while checking into the traditional front desk, not including your wait time in line. We also saw 1,000,000 chats through our digital concierge last year as we utilize AI to both transform guest engagement and accelerate productivity. And finally, we are busy at work creating programming that will target and highlight the great value MGM has to offer. We will share more of that exciting news and announcements soon.

At the end of the day, there is nothing comparable to Las Vegas. People are visiting to have unforgettable experiences, and the exceptional value is the optionality of what our guests can enjoy and discover on any particular visit. There is also value in the unmatched energy and excitement that surrounds everything you do in this town. That is why Las Vegas was selected to host the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2027 and the Final Four in 2028. Las Vegas is where the NBA is exploring expansion and Major League Baseball is now establishing operations.

We have also extended our relationship with F1 for five years, and there has always been and always will be extraordinary value here in Las Vegas. Our regional operations continue to deliver solid results regardless of the macroeconomic environment due to their outstanding asset quality, their strong demographic placement, and experienced operating teams. During the quarter, they reported not only record fourth quarter slot win, but also the best full year slot win ever. MGM China remains a strong outperformer, ending the year with a record high quarterly and full year segment adjusted EBITDAR.

We achieved a 16.5% market share during the fourth quarter, and impressively maintained share of over 16% for the full year, a record market share level for an annual period as our operating team continues to command a strong understanding and relationship with the premium mass customer driving the market. Considering our execution, reflected in our ability to maintain an over-index market share and solid EBITDA margins, MGM China's trading value is at sub seven times forward EBITDA multiple versus an industry average of over eight and a half times. It seems significantly discounted to us. Yesterday, we heard impressive results from Adam and Gary on our BetMGM North America venture.

BetMGM beat 2025 guidance during the year where they started by inflecting positive and ending by turning annual EBITDA around by nearly $470,000,000. The strong performance resulted in a $135,000,000 distribution to MGM during the fourth quarter. And during 2025, monthly player volumes increased 24% while active player days increased 14%. This momentum remains positive, highlighted by the plan outlined on the earnings call to reach $500,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA in 2027. MGM Digital also continues to see encouraging momentum. We are excited by the scaling of the BetMGM brands in key international markets, where Sweden continues to be our top market. We exited 2025 making significant headway in Brazil, particularly after the December launch of our in-house sportsbook.

The Brazilian market is new, robust, and evolving, and we are confident that our product and our JV with Globo and the valuable Globo marketing assets have created abundant opportunities that are worthy of sustained investment in the coming year. Progress also continues with our development projects, setting a long-term growth pipeline for our business. Construction remains on schedule in Dubai with Bellagio, ARIA, and MGM Grand hotel towers scheduled to open in March 2028. And in Japan, construction remains on time and on budget for MGM Osaka. Currently, about 20% of the foundation piles have been installed or completed and the project remains on track to open in 2030. The outlook for the coming year is encouraging.

With a more constructive backdrop and a stabilizing environment, our message last quarter holds true. We are optimistic that growth in Las Vegas can be achieved this year. There are also potential macro catalysts that could benefit both Las Vegas and MGM more broadly, including lower-trending interest rates, certain tax regulations, including no tax on overtime and tips, and other stimulus benefiting consumers and further progress at the Las Vegas airport as about 50% of the lost capacity left by value airlines and select international carriers has been backfilled by other airlines. Beyond the macro drivers, MGM is driving convention and group nights with more future room nights on the books than we have ever had.

We also continue identifying opportunities to operate more efficiently, and make further progress on our AI and technology initiatives, all while our improved liquidity and cash flow generation allows us to pursue innovative ideas and strategic investments that can and will deliver meaningful value. With that, I will now turn this back to Jonathan S. Halkyard to provide additional details on our performance for the quarter.

Jonathan S. Halkyard: Thanks very much, Bill. And thanks to all of our employees who stepped up throughout a challenging year, strengthening the foundation we have today and allowing us to take advantage of the growth opportunities in 2026. Consistent with our third quarter commentary surrounding Las Vegas, we saw stabilization in the fourth quarter. Las Vegas EBITDAR declined 4% year over year, an improvement versus the declines experienced earlier this year, driven by the completion of the MGM Grand room remodel in October, a year-over-year improvement in convention mix, and hold settling in above our normal range.

Luxor and Excalibur continue to have a disproportionate impact to this quarter's decline in Las Vegas, though keep in mind these two properties only represent about 6% of Las Vegas segment adjusted EBITDAR in 2025. While we do not see immediate changes to value customer habits, we are seeing strength in the south end of the Strip when we have robust programming at Allegiant and, as Bill referenced, we are working towards some creative concepts on marketing our value proposition to these customers. Additionally, the comparisons just become more favorable toward the end of 2026. The return of the MGM Grand room inventory has been a benefit.

And it is worth noting upon completion, the average age of our Las Vegas rooms since renovation is about six years. We have a strong maintenance capital program to reinvest in our properties regularly, and I would argue that we have the best maintained portfolio of assets on the Strip, which is recognized in the positive feedback from customers and, of course, the outsized room occupancy share that we command in the market. Our regional operations had another strong quarter to close out a record-breaking year.

Not only did they achieve best ever fourth quarter slot win, but they accomplished the best ever annual slot win performance for 2025, resulting in a 2% rise in net revenues in the fourth quarter and stable EBITDAR. I would also highlight that the sale of the Northfield Park operations remains on track for the first half 2026 close. MGM China just crushed it this quarter. During the fourth quarter, net revenues grew 21% and segment adjusted EBITDAR grew by 31%, a new fourth quarter record. Relentless competitive environment is the norm there, but our team has consistently maintained mid-high twenties margins with their focus on maintaining high service levels while anticipating evolving customer tastes and preferences.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: MGM China recently announced new terms for its branding fee.

Jonathan S. Halkyard: Which will increase this year from 1.75% to 3.5% and secures the MGM brand through the life of the concession and auto-renews for up to 20 years upon a concession renewal. The rate is comparable to the only other U.S.-based Macau operator and is sensible given the strength of MGM's brand, its market size, and global reach. The brand has proven its value over time, helping drive MGM China's market share and EBITDAR, both of which have almost doubled since 2019. The renewal terms also result in greater cash flow generated for MGM Resorts International, which, if we use 2025 results, would represent over $50,000,000 in incremental cash flow to our company.

We remain highly confident in the long-term growth prospects in Macau and remain aligned with the MGM China shareholders in our desire to increase profitability and ultimately the enterprise value of MGM China. Our BetMGM North America venture had a tremendous year with growth in fourth quarter net revenue from operations up 39% and EBITDA improving by $176,000,000 to $71,000,000 in the quarter. As reported on their recent earnings call, BetMGM provided 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance of $300,000,000 to $350,000,000 and $50,000,000 of expected CapEx, along with the expectation of regularly distributing excess cash to its parents.

MGM Digital saw impressive 35% growth in net revenues due to continued momentum across the various international geographies, including our legacy LeoVegas markets and Brazil. We plan to continue investing in growth initiatives throughout 2026, including integration of our sportsbook platform that we expect to launch in several of our key markets, including Sweden, as well as continued investment in Brazil. We anticipate another year of solid top-line growth and improvement in 2026 EBITDAR that we expect to be approximately half the losses that we had in 2025. In Japan, we are expecting our 2026 funding commitment to be approximately $350,000,000 to $400,000,000.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: Much of it will be addressed with proceeds from the yen-denominated credit.

Jonathan S. Halkyard: Facility we closed last October, which we upsized to approximately $350,000,000 during the quarter at a low single-digit cost of capital. We bought back over 15,000,000 shares during the fourth quarter for $516,000,000, bringing our total 2025 share repurchase activity to 37,500,000 shares for $1,200,000,000, and that represents an average price of $32.43. And over the last five years, we have decreased our share count by almost 50%. Finally, I want to remind everyone of our various sources of cash flow spanning the business, including cash generated from our Las Vegas and regional operations, our MGM China branding fees and distributions,

William Joseph Hornbuckle: And now our BetMGM distributions. The cash sources from MGM China and BetMGM in particular are high-margin, recurring sources of income.

Jonathan S. Halkyard: And should be assessed accordingly when valuing our company. We have augmented these recurring sources of cash with other actions, including raising a low cost-of-borrow yen-denominated facility to fund most of our Japan commitments this year, selling our Northfield Park operations, which will close in May, and reallocating capital previously earmarked for our pursuit of a table games license in New York. In aggregate, these growing sources of cash flow enable us to fund growth opportunities including the entirety of our MGM Osaka commitment and any future CapEx projects we choose to pursue. It also covers share buybacks, maintenance CapEx, interest expense, and rent expense. And keep in mind, not all leases are created equally.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: None of our triple-net real estate leases allow for rent.

Jonathan S. Halkyard: Escalate above 2% in the first ten years, and the most aggressive lease terms cap our rent escalators at 3% for the next ten years after that. As a result of our aggregate cash flow sources, we can convert our diverse operating strength into meaningful, durable free cash flow to drive shareholder value. I will turn it back to Bill. Thanks, Jonathan. A couple of thoughts before we go to questions.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: We exited 2025 with Las Vegas showing signs of stabilization and an improving trajectory. We continue to see those positive trends as we begin 2026, and expect to make even greater progress from a reset baseline in Las Vegas when we lap earlier leisure comparisons in the second half of the year. Our diversity supported consolidated growth in 2025 and has proven to support our growth in almost any environment. Everywhere we operate, we have the best portfolio of brands, physical assets, leadership, and employees who once again set a new annual record for gold-plus NPS scores.

We have a growth pipeline that includes digital in the near to medium term, and arguably the greatest global integrated resort opportunity with MGM Osaka opening in 2030. We have a solid balance sheet, low relative leverage, and favorable lease structures with reasonable rent escalators. We generate substantial and growing cash flow that provides us with the ability to pursue any opportunities that may drive value creation. We have a massively shrinking share count, and we are reverting to growth in Las Vegas. Operator, if we could open it up for questions now, we would be happy to take them.

Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. As a reminder, in all fairness, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Our first question today comes from Daniel Brian Politzer with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Daniel Brian Politzer: Hey, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my question.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: Bill, I want to just pick back up on your last comment there on the path to reverting back to growth in Las Vegas. I think you laid out certainly a number of factors with group and convention pacing up mid-single digits, CONEXPO, and obviously strong OpEx control with some of those technology benefits. So, other than the second half comparisons getting easier, how do you think about the path forward in terms of the first quarter and second quarter in terms of getting back to normalized EBITDA growth in Las Vegas here?

William Joseph Hornbuckle: Look, I will kick this off, and maybe Ayesha can pipe in here as well. This current quarter we are in, as compared to the first of last year, there are some differentiators that I think we will and can and should go through. As it relates to occupancy, it has clearly stabilized. Obviously, we have CONEXPO coming up. We have seen and we have demonstrated the ability to continue to drive the high-end luxury pieces of our business. And that will continue, I think, all the way through 2026.

We have seen, and particularly in gaming, the high end—and I do not mean premium super high end, I mean end business led by things like our Holiday Gift Shoppe, which was the second highest Holiday Gift Shoppe I think we have ever had. And so, it is fair to say the K economy is alive and well, given the positioning of our assets, the programming. I think as we get through and into April, particularly May and beyond, I think you are going to see some really strong performance. Obviously, the MGM Grand piece is a big piece for us.

I have never seen a remodel impact a property the way that one did, only because we had so many rooms out at the same time. And so all of those things, I think, are looking favorable. And generally, I think things will stabilize. I think we have begun to see it; the Convention Authority is expecting a million more visitors. And so, 2024 was an amazing year. And so 2025 was difficult. We need to solve for Canada and leisure travel, but generally speaking, we feel very positive—positive enough to think that we are going to exit 2026 on an up. Ayesha, do you want to add?

Ayesha Molino: Yeah. Just a couple of thoughts. When we think about CONEXPO and we think about that combined with our own convention base, especially as we head into the latter part of Q2 and into Q3, I think we have reason to have a very favorable outlook. I would also note in the near term, we have events like the Super Bowl that continue to drive a lot of excitement among our meaningful customer base, and so we continue to see that base turn out, as Bill noted, particularly at the high end but with a lot of excitement for our business.

Daniel Brian Politzer: Got it. That is helpful. And then just for my follow-up, in the fourth quarter, obviously, we saw that table hold was a bit higher and we can kind of triangulate on the math there. But were there any other one-offs that, in particular, in the fourth quarter either in Las Vegas or any of the other segments you would call out just so, for modeling purposes?

Jonathan S. Halkyard: Yeah. The hold was a little bit above average for us and a little bit above prior year. We consider that impact in the fourth quarter to be kind of $20-ish million to the bottom line in Las Vegas. The only other really one-time items would be some in corporate expense. And so, for modeling purposes, the corporate expense number is around $110 to $115,000,000 per quarter. We had some unusual expenses in the fourth quarter and some in the first quarter of last year that should not recur this year.

Daniel Brian Politzer: Understood. Thanks so much.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question today comes from John G. DeCree with CBRE. Please go ahead.

John G. DeCree: Hi, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: Maybe to continue the discussion in Las Vegas. Jonathan, I think in your prepared remarks, you mentioned the value customer a little bit. I think I heard you say there is not really any change there.

John G. DeCree: But as we think about value customer or leisure more broadly, can you elaborate on some of the things that you might be able to do or the city is doing as a whole to kind of help get that customer stabilized throughout 2026?

Jonathan S. Halkyard: Yeah. And I certainly did not mean to minimize the contribution of our Luxor and Excalibur properties. We love those properties, but I do think they are the ones that cater most to that value-conscious customer and they do represent about 6% of the EBITDA for our properties here in Las Vegas. That being said, we have done a number of initiatives already both on the revenue-driving and the cost side to address those customers and we have more planned this year. I invite Ayesha if she wanted to add anything else.

Ayesha Molino: Yeah, sure. Just a couple of things. When we think about the customer in particular, like a lot of companies in the hospitality industry, I think over the last year or so, we did see that shortening of booking window. But that being said, we are paying close attention to that customer. We are starting to see a response, particularly to large-scale events, that feels positive to us. In terms of some of the broader initiatives, the city late last year ran a citywide sale that was very well received. I think there is constant effort at coming together to make sure that we are driving visitation to the city.

John G. DeCree: That is helpful. Thank you. Maybe one more as a follow-up on Vegas. The gaming revenue volumes, the win, even outside of some favorable table holds, I think volumes were quite good and have been all year. Can you talk a little bit about your casino room night mix or what you might attribute some of the resilient or better gaming volumes to in spite of lower occupancy on Strip? Obviously, you have mentioned the high end is doing well, but anything you can add that could give us some color on why you think the casino business, table slots, is doing so well, in spite of lower occupancy?

William Joseph Hornbuckle: John, this is Bill. I will kick it off, and Ayesha can finish it. In terms of the mix, I think we mentioned it throughout our comments and we have done this and seen it work. If I think about Bellagio, we have reinvested in the high-end slot room, by way of example. We have reinvested actually in almost all of our high-end slot rooms across the company. I was just in National Harbor over the weekend and saw that one. It has paid dividends. That market, which obviously those are high-end customers, but not to the extreme you get into some of our table games customers. It is working.

So we have picked, I think, the right things to invest in. I think it is working in Macau of note. I think Kenny and the team there have particularly picked the right things. Then the activity case, you know, we have this dialogue around value. There is value in high-end activity. When people come to Las Vegas, for whatever the event is, we have got a bunch of stuff coming up as we mentioned. They are not afraid to spend money. And so, yes, we need to be value conscious. We need to understand that mix and how we price certain things to be sure.

But when you think about the top end of our business and the experiences people continue to seek and want, I think we are doing a rational and a good job both marketing to them and ultimately providing. And we have pushed hard on BetMGM, by way of example. I think one of the reasons for the success of Holiday Gift Shoppe was our ability to provide omnichannel into that program and those people. And so we continue to do that. That has been an added nice channel.

And I think the Marriott channel underlying a lot of this, those customers, many of them come having not had to pay for their room, per se, meaning in cash, and so I think the opportunity to enjoy Las Vegas and all that we do, I think, has been paying off. And so I think it is a combination of a lot of things, really.

Ayesha Molino: Yeah. The only thing that I would add is we have a very strong database, and we have been fortunate to see the resiliency of that database over time. I think even as we think about forward-looking casino bookings, those are remaining strong for us, especially from the medium to the high end. And so again, I think that the strength of that database continues to pay dividends. That is helpful. Thank you all.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question today comes from Shaun Clisby Kelley at Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Shaun Clisby Kelley: Hi, good evening everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. Bill or Jonathan, just kind of wanted to think about some scenario analysis around Las Vegas specifically. And if you could, margins have been down the last three years as business has normalized a little bit post-COVID. And just trying to think what you are seeing on the expense side of the ledger. So I think we now know some of the drivers and what you are looking for to drive 2026 on the top line. But help us think about two things. One would be just run-rate, operating expense growth and any internal initiatives you have to sort of manage that?

And then secondarily, remind us on the room renovation cadence. What was the disruption for MGM Grand in this year, if you could put it in EBITDA dollars, and you talked about room nights. More importantly, I think ARIA was slated for this year. Is that still the case? And any other major projects for this year that could be a little disruptive? Thanks. Okay. Thanks a lot, Shaun. I will take those in turn and certainly invite Ayesha to comment as well. In terms of expense growth, we will be able to hold our overall expense growth to the very, very low single digits this year.

Wages are an important part of our cost structure, and we have been able to largely offset wage growth, unit labor cost growth, with the labor complement that we have, even adjusting for modest occupancy declines in 2025. So we had FTEs down slightly in Las Vegas, regions, and in the corporate office during 2025. In terms of the renovation impact for the MGM Grand, last year, it was about $65,000,000 in EBITDA during the year. And that is of course already completed. So we will not only not suffer that this year, but hopefully enjoy some benefit from those remodeled rooms. There is not going to be much renovation impact at all in rooms in Las Vegas.

We are starting the ARIA project, but that will not be until midway through the fourth quarter. So that will be more of a 2027 for us in terms of room renovation disruption from ARIA in Las Vegas. Anything you want to add on the cost structure?

Ayesha Molino: Just a couple of thoughts on that. I think the teams have done a really excellent job with management throughout the year, and they are constantly looking for ways to improve upon that through technology or otherwise. And so we have certainly seen the dividends of those actions over the course of the year. And as Jonathan noted, a couple of major differences between ARIA and MGM Grand.

Of course, we did the bathrooms at MGM Grand, which are not slated to be done at ARIA, which will cause significantly less disruption in terms of the number of rooms that have to be taken out at any given time, and as Jonathan noted, we very thoughtfully scheduled this so that the vast majority of the disruption will take place over slower periods. And so we are looking to mitigate revenue impact there as well.

Shaun Clisby Kelley: Thank you both.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question today comes from Chad C. Beynon with Macquarie. Please go ahead.

Chad C. Beynon: Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Wanted to shift to Macau. Really strong quarter, particularly compared to what we have seen in terms of market growth and some others experiencing some cost creep. So can you maybe touch on that, what the margin environment is like, if you believe that Macau margins can remain in this area, and then anything that you are seeing in terms of early bookings for Lunar New Year? Thank you.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: Kenny, all yours.

Kenneth Zhang: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for the question. We do see very rational competition in current marketplace in the past few quarters. Particularly, if you look at our reinvestment rate, or the GGR trend, there could be a little bit of volatility due to the mix of business. But in general, it is fairly stable. Our MGM China margin has always been in mid to high twenties. As we guided, we always delivered what we said for the past few years. As to Chinese New Year, we are very optimistic. We see very, very encouraging booking trend for Chinese New Year. We either have a long waiting list for our top-tier hotel products. The party quality is very high.

MGM China here, I mean, we do have a limited room inventory, but we are putting premium mass. We are very focused on quality over quantity. And the yield management is always our strength. We are confident about the demand. We will make sure that we yield our products wisely. And we will make sure what we are doing to serve our customers what we want. There is a new phenomenon these days. Even ahead of holiday, there is no slow period. So we feel good about it in general. Thank you.

Chad C. Beynon: That is great to hear. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question today comes from Brandt Antoine Montour with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Brandt Antoine Montour: So a couple in Vegas for me. You know, you guys gave us a lot of helpful details. Bill, you talked about stabilization and you sound pretty confident about the stabilization you are seeing. I was hoping that we could sort of dig into that because if you look at the fourth quarter from a KPI perspective, RevPAR was down a decent amount, but then casino revenue was up a lot. And so when you think about, you know, monthly October, November, December to January, what does the stabilization look like from a KPI perspective?

And maybe said another way, can you get back to growth with RevPAR declines like you are seeing or even, you know, maybe less so, but still material.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: Go ahead. Or go ahead, Jonathan. Yeah. I would say the general cadence in the fourth quarter was October was—and I am talking about kind of ADRs—October was down more than December was. November was pretty stable, and it was driven a lot by special events and F1. And then as we started to look into the first quarter, we saw, again, moderating declines versus prior year in ADR. We are confident about the casino's ability to drive revenue growth through events and through omnichannel marketing and just through more effective casino marketing. And it is interesting to note that RevPOR, so overall revenue per occupied room, was actually up slightly for MGM Resorts International in the fourth quarter.

And so we are constantly doing this, shifting between the different pockets of demand and different revenue channels in order to optimize revenue. And as we look into the first quarter, we are just seeing some of this continued stabilization that we saw developing in the fourth. Okay. Thanks for that, Jonathan. That is really helpful. And also in Vegas, you made a comment, Jonathan, about table hold settling in. And the level that you guys are achieving, yes, it has been pretty consistent on an annual basis for the last couple years in the 24 and change area. That is above pre-COVID average.

So the question is, what structurally has changed for the hold, and is this the new steady state that we should be forecasting?

William Joseph Hornbuckle: I would not agree to the last comment, but I would say more relative. Look, we see a lot of high-end activity. The premium customers that we are able to accommodate, you can see it in our baccarat share. If you think about our baccarat share, we are well into the high 40s, I think, this last couple of months. So that more than anything is driving it, but we continue and consistently do that. And while that business can and is volatile at times, I think our market share of that has been continuing to lift that number more than almost anything else.

Brandt Antoine Montour: Thanks, Bill. Thanks, everyone.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question today comes from Steven Pizzella with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Steven Pizzella: Hey, good evening, everyone, and thanks for taking my question. Just pivoting to the regional segment, any color you can give us on how the year started off for the regional portfolio? If you have any thoughts on a range of outcomes for the regional business this year?

Ayesha Molino: Our regional businesses continue to be really steady over time, and certainly we are seeing that steadiness continue into the first quarter. And as Bill noted earlier, there have been some real meaningful pockets of excitement for our regional properties. I would point here to Borgata and the investment in the high-limit table rooms there, which has paid really nice dividends for us, and we are continuing to invest, as Bill noted, in that product at various of our regionals. We are proud of how steady those assets have remained and continue to see that steadiness.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: And I would remind us, do not think that baccarat product and those high-end rooms came out until May. When did it come on? It was later in the year is my point. So we will have the benefit of the first couple of quarters there. And then you probably all saw, and we are excited by it—we will see if this comes to fruition or not, but we believe it will, on conversations I have had—but the notion of a Sphere coming to Maryland is very compelling and very exciting, I think, for the project, the region, and ultimately National Harbor. If it is executed as thought about, it could deliver a couple million more customers a year there.

And so, we remain very excited by some of our regional properties. They are well placed and they are great assets, and we think will continue to grow over time.

Ayesha Molino: Okay. Thank you. And just real quick for my follow-up.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: You mentioned the World Cup in your prepared remarks. Are you expecting incremental visitation to Las Vegas as a result from people visiting? And have you seen any kind of advance bookings indicating increased demand from that? We are expecting, yes. It is a unique opportunity to particularly bring high-end customers who will be in the region to Las Vegas, potentially in and out of LA or on the way to New York or any place else for that matter. And so we are highly focused on that. I think it is a little early on the overall mix at total.

But I think when it relates to particularly the high end of the market, we are pretty excited by what may come out of South America and some other markets, as we would all understand them. Okay. Great. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question today comes from Barry Jonathan Jonas with Truist. Please go ahead.

Barry Jonathan Jonas: Hey, guys. One narrative on the Vegas softness has been that perhaps there is trade down where some folks are going to Vegas, but perhaps gaming closer to home. Curious if you have seen that dynamic as you look at your database. Thank you.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: No. This becomes the constant: is digital gaming offsetting brick-and-mortar gaming? I think the closest analogy we have is Michigan where we have a robust sports and iGaming business, yet our property continues to gain share. And so no, we think ultimately it is additive. When you think about the opportunity for database for omnichannel, people come here, they get to go home loaded up, if you will, with the MGM app and continue the experience. And so, no, it is nothing that has shown itself as a significant issue. To the contrary, we see it still as a benefit. Great. And then just for a follow-up, Bill, what is the latest on the 90% gaming loss tax deductibility?

I guess, what are next steps there? And how impactful could this be to your business if unfortunately it would stand?

Ayesha Molino: We are continuing to see significant strength in our slot handle into the first quarter even as that has taken effect. So we are watching it closely, but we are partnering closely also with our industry, our fellow colleagues in the industry, to advocate for a fix on that.

Barry Jonathan Jonas: Great. Thank you so much.

Operator: Thank you. And our final question today comes from Stephen White Grambling at Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Stephen White Grambling: Hey. Thanks for sneaking me in, and apologies if I missed this, but it looks like you ramped up the buyback in the quarter and talked through some of the sources of liquidity from here. So how should investors think about the right level of potentially parent-level buyback versus MGM China maybe buying back there where I think you mentioned you saw value. And as a related follow-up on that, if MGM China is part of the direction you want to go, are there any limitations in terms of how high you can take that share?

Jonathan S. Halkyard: Okay. I am a little unclear on the final part of the question. But as it relates to buybacks at MGM Resorts International, it really is a constant evaluation we do around the value that we see in our shares versus the other uses of cash that we have that we think are high priorities. In the last six months, of course, we made the decision not to proceed with the New York license. That was $500,000,000 at least that had already been previously earmarked for that. We see great value in the shares and so we began share repurchases again in the fourth quarter.

I think share repurchases are always going to be in our capital allocation mix because, fortunately, our level of free cash flow now, with the distributions we are getting from MGM China and BetMGM, we can afford to invest in our properties, invest in MGM Osaka, and as well as repurchase shares. I did not go through the multiple math that we all know very well on MGM Resorts International right now, but suffice to say it is a really compelling investment, we believe, and that is why we are doing it. I am not going to speak for the—

William Joseph Hornbuckle: Stephen, on the China question as I think I understand it. There is about 22% float in the company. We have to keep that. And so the idea that we would buy back from the open market is we have got to keep that float. And frankly, the exchange is pushing to have more. So that is not what was implied there. The simple implication was the multiple value seems cheap.

Stephen White Grambling: No. That is exactly what I was saying. That is helpful. So it sounds like, again, the parent—you get that cheapness through buying back at that level rather than directly anyway.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: Correct. Awesome. Thank you. Thanks.

Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to William Joseph Hornbuckle for any closing remarks.

William Joseph Hornbuckle: Thank you, operator. Just a couple of quick comments before you all go, and we appreciate your time given the time of day. Look. Diversification is clearly working. Our consolidated EBITDA growth was up 20% in the fourth quarter, and I think that proved it. You have heard us stress signs of stabilization in Vegas, and obviously, we believe that. We have seen it in various segments, whether it is group, the BetMGM discussion. We see stimulus coming and helpful, both in leisure and particularly in our regionals. We see Macau continuing to perform at the performance level it is. We have all been challenged with, yeah, but how do you do this in the market conditions?

We have been doing this for a couple years now. And so, hopefully, we build some faith and credibility in that. And then BetMGM had a remarkable year. It sets itself up for when we think and say in 2027 we think we can be at $500,000,000; we believe that. And we did not say that until recently. And we are now saying it with belief. And so we think we are in great shape as we think about 2026 and the things in the immediate future. And with that, operator, I will end the call, and I thank everybody for their time.

Operator: Thank you, sir. This concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines and have a wonderful evening.

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