Boyd Gaming Corporation saw revenue decline 34.5% year-on-year in 2020, as the fourth-quarter recovery of regional casinos wasn’t enough to prevent the operator slipping to a $134.7m loss.
While gaming continued to make up the vast majority of Boyd’s revenue, this was down 28.5% to $1.78bn.
Food and beverages brought in $178.8m, down 60.0%, while room revenue dropped 55.8% to $105.0m and other revenue was down 24.4% at $119.3m.
Almost three quarters of revenue came from casinos in the Midwest and South regions, which brought in $1.52bn, down 30.5%. Las Vegas local casinos saw revenue decline 36.2% to $94.5m.
Boyd’s casinos in downtown Las Vegas were hit hardest, with revenue down 63.3%.
The operator’s total operating expenses came to $2.16bn, down 24.2%, with costs of sales related to gaming the highest expense at $734.3m, down 34.2%.
Selling, general and administrative costs were the next largest expense at $350.4m, down 23.9%, while depreciation and amortisation costs were up 1.8% to $281.0m. Costs of sales for food and drink, rooms and other income combined to reach $302.8m. Boyd paid an additional $174.7m in impairment costs for intangible assets, after having no such expenses in 2019.
These costs led to an operating profit of $14.3, down 97.0% from 2019.
Boyd paid $230.5m in interest expenses and $45.1m in net other costs for a pre-tax loss of $171.0m, compared with a $202.1m profit a year prior.
After a $36.3m income tax benefit, Boyd’s net loss came to $134.7m, after having made a $157.6m net profit in 2019.
Looking only at the fourth quarter of the year, revenue was down 21.5% to $656.9m. Gaming revenue made up $514.5m of this total, down 16.5%.
Midwestern and southern venues brought in $456.2m for the quarter, down 15.5%, while Las Vegas local revenue was down 28.9% to $161.5m. Downtown Las Vegas revenue dropped 74.0% to $18.2m.
After operating costs of $524.7m, Boyd’s operating income was $111.3m.
Boyd president and chief executive Keith Smith said the operator had been extremely efficient in turning revenue to operating profit in the fourth quarter.
“Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the entire Boyd Gaming team and their commitment to our more efficient operating model, our Company continues to produce the highest margins in our history, even in the face of stricter Covid restrictions and several property closures,” Smith said. “We achieved record Company-wide operating margins for the second consecutive quarter.”
When accounting for other costs totalling $17.5m, it made a pre-tax profit of $93.8m. The operator’s final loss after $10.5m in taxes came to $83.3m for the quarter.
While Boyd did not reveal the amount of revenue it made from online operations, Smith said that this area showed great promise and that the operator expected further growth going forward.
“We continue to see encouraging results from online gaming,” Smith said. “Through our partnership with FanDuel, we are benefiting from strong growth in mobile sports betting, and expect further upside as we prepare to launch a Stardust-branded iCasino in Pennsylvania in April, pending regulatory approval.”
“We are excited about the long-term opportunities of online gaming and the improving prospects for our business in 2021 and beyond.”