Revenue at Golden Entertainment remained relatively stable for the first quarter of the year, growing by just 1.6% to $278.0m.
During the quarter, Golden Entertainment agreed to sell its gaming operations in Nevada and Montana, which Blake Sartini, company chairman and CEO, said will allow the company to focus on its casino assets.
“During the quarter, we announced the sale of our distributed gaming businesses in both Nevada and Montana, which will allow us to focus on investing in our wholly-owned casino assets and growing our tavern portfolio in Nevada,” said Sartini.
Sartini said that he expects the sale to close this year, and that the sale of the Rocky Gap property in Maryland would close next month.
“We expect the sale of our distributed gaming businesses to close by the end of 2023 and continue to expect the previously announced sale of our Rocky Gap property in Maryland to close by the end of June.”
“Most of the sales proceeds from these transactions will further reduce leverage, which will position us well to continue investing in our owned properties, accelerate capital returns to shareholders and pursue future strategic initiatives.”
Q1 revenue
The revenue was mostly generated by Golden Entertainment’s gaming operations, which totaled at $188.0m for the quarter. Food and beverage made up $46.2m of the total revenue, followed by rooms, which generated $30.5m. Other revenue accounted for the remaining $13.1m.
In terms of its casino locations, Golden Entertainment’s Nevada casino resorts generated $100.1m in revenue for the company, far beyond other locations.
Nevada locals casinos generated $41.2m, while the Nevada Taverns made $27.5m in revenue. The Maryland casino resort’s revenue totaled at $18.1m.
Distributed gaming, which consists of Golden Entertainment’s gaming operations in Nevada and Montana, made $90.4m in revenue during the quarter. Corporate and other property-related costs resulted in $515,000 of the revenue.
Operating costs
The total expenses for the quarter were $245.4m, a rise of 1.9% yearly. As expected, gaming generated the highest expense during the quarter, totaling at $106.9m. Selling, general and administrative expenses came to $62.0m, while the food and beverage sector incurred costs of $34.0m.
The remaining expenses stemmed from rooms, depreciation and amortization, pre-opening expenses and other operating expenses. Gain on disposal of assets added $86,000 to the total.
After considering the total expenses, the operating income stood at $32.6m, not far below the $36.8m generated in Q1 2022.
Interest expense totaled at $18.2m, which left the pre-tax income at $14.4m.
Income tax provision incurred a loss of $2.7m. This was a significant drop of $21.2m from Q1 2022. Following this, the total net profit for the quarter was $11.6m, a fall of 67.7% yearly.