Golden Entertainment’s Third Quarter Business Recovering

Nasdaq-traded casino operator Golden Entertainment released Thursday its third quarter financial report, pointing out that the financial performance during the quarter at all of its properties quickly recovered from the coronavirus impact.

Quarterly Revenues Down YoY

Golden Entertainment posted 2020 third quarter revenues of $205.4 million, 15.6% down compared to the quarterly result for the period ended September 30 2019, $243.3 million. Net loss for the quarter was $7 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, where as in Q3 last year the net loss was $9.4 million, or $0.34 per share.

“Our financial performance quickly recovered from the impact of the mandated shutdowns in March reflecting the benefit of our diversified portfolio of local and regional gaming operations as well as adjustments we made to managing the business. Our third quarter results demonstrate the continued strong operating trends at most of our properties since reopening as we generated the highest third quarter Adjusted EBITDA in the Company’s history.”

Blake Sartini, Chairman and CEO, Golden Entertainment

Adjusted EBITDA Increase Boosted by Casinos

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the three-month period ended September 30 2020 was slightly up, $45.4 million, compared to the $43.1 million for the same period the prior year. The record third quarter adjusted EBITDA was powered by the casinos in Las Vegas which achieved double-digits and collectively doubled their contribution since the prior year, the company’s chairman and CEO continued.

“Strong performance also continued at our Laughlin and Pahrump casinos, which increased Adjusted EBITDA by 8% and 40%, respectively, for the third quarter compared to the prior year. Our Maryland property also demonstrated meaningful improvement with third quarter Adjusted EBITDA increasing 27% compared to the prior year.”

Blake Sartini, Chairman and CEO, Golden Entertainment

The operator reported casino revenues of $135.3 million for the quarter, down 12.8% compared to $155.1 million generated for the third quarter of 2019. Casino operations adjusted EBITDA for the quarter posted $50.5 million compared to $42.2 million reported for the same three-month period last year.

Distributed Gaming Revenue Down

Golden Entertainment’s revenue from distributed gaming during the quarter amounted to $69.9 million, down more than 20% compared to $88 million in the third quarter of 2019, while adjusted EBITDA from distributed gaming was $4.7 million compared to $11.4 million for the same period of three months in 2019.

“Our Montana distributed gaming business also continued to grow revenue and Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter, while our distributed gaming business in Nevada was challenged from the mandated reclosure of bar-areas from July 10th to September 20th. We have since reopened bar-areas at all of our tavern locations and have seen more normalized operating trends across our portfolio.”

Blake Sartini, Chairman and CEO, Golden Entertainment

In terms of liquidity, Golden Entertainment reported cash and cash equivalents of $100.4 million, as of September 30. Total debt for the operator was $1.2 billion, of which $772 million outstanding credit facilities and $375 million of senior unsecured notes. Blake Sartini further noted that the operator managed to repay the remaining $10 million drawn on the company’s $200 million revolving facility, which now remains intact for future needs.