Full House Resorts put a 36.8% year-on-year increase in Q1 revenue year down to structural changes within the business, while the land-based casino operator was also able to reduce losses during the period.
Revenue for the three months to March 31 amounted to $42.2m, up from $30.9m in Q1 of last year, during which Full House was forced to close all of its land-bad gambling facilities in line with local novel coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions.
Full House’s casinos closed from mid-March 2020 as US states sought to slow the spread of Covid-19. However, these facilities are now open again – though some at limited capacity – allowing revenue to rise in Q1 of the current year.
Casino revenue climbed 54.3% year-on-year to $32.1m, while hotel revenue also edged up 10.0% to $2.2m. Food and beverage revenue was 12.9% down at $6.1m, but Full House saw the fastest growth within its other operations, including online and mobile sports, with revenue up 63.6% to $1.8m.
Breaking down revenue performance by state, Full House’s Silver Slipper Casino and Hotel in Mississippi saw revenue increase 48.1% to $22.4m, while revenue at the Rising Star Casino Resort in Indiana also climbed 18.5% to $8.6m.
In Colorado, revenue from Bronco Billy’s Casino also increased 18.5% year-on-year to $5.9m, while in Nevada, revenue from the Grand Lodge and Stockman’s casino properties was up 41.9% to $4.4m.
Turning to Full House’s contracted sports wagering segment, which consists of its on-site and online sports wagering skins in Colorado and Indiana, revenue jumped 150.0% from $400,000 in Q1 of 2020 to $1.0m this year. This reflected a full quarter of operations of three of Full House’s six permitted sports wagering skin, compared to just one in Q1 of 2020.
Full House commenced operations with its fourth and fifth sports wagering skins in April this year, with the operator anticipating the launch of its sixth skin in the coming months. When all six skins are in operation, it expects to generate at least $7m per year in revenue.
“Our first quarter results continued to benefit from structural changes that we began to implement before the pandemic-related shutdown,” Full House president and chief executive Daniel Lee said.
“Our 2021 results reflect a change in our operating segments. We now break out our on-site and online sports wagering skins in Colorado and Indiana as their own segment: contracted sports wagering.”
Looking at spending in Q1 and total operating costs were slightly down from $34.3m in 2020 to $33.5m this year. This resulted in an operating profit of $8.7m, compared to a $3.4m loss last year.
Full House also noted a significant improvement in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), with this jumping from a $1.2m loss in 2020 to $10.8m in earnings this year.
Turning to other spending, Full House reported $4.5m in interest expenses, as well as a $6.1m loss on the extinguishment of debt and a $1.3m negative impact from the adjustment to fair value of warrants.
This led to a $3.2m loss before tax, an improvement on the $4.3m loss posted at the same point in 2020. Full House received $202,000 in tax benefits, meaning it ended the quarter with a net loss of $3.4m, compared to $4.4m last year.
“Our first quarter results are significantly above not only the 2020 period, but also meaningfully above any first quarter in at least the past five years,” Lee added.