The racecard at Accel Entertainment’s Fairmount Park in Collinsville, Illinois, was canceled last Saturday due to inclement weather. But that didn’t stop attendees from celebrating during the track’s first Kentucky Derby under Accel management.
“We still had a fantastic turnout that drove very strong play at the casino,” said Mark Phelan, president, U.S Gaming during Monday’s investor’s call for the first quarter of 2025.
In fact, Accel had much to celebrate, with record 1Q25 revenue of $323.9 million, an increase of 7.3% compared to the same quarter of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA was $49.5 million, an increase of 7.1% year over year.
At the end of the quarter, Accel ended up with video terminals in 4,391 location, a 2.9% increase compared to the first quarter of 2024.
“Our operating and financial momentum continues in 2025,” said CEO Andy Rubenstein. “In the first quarter, we generated our highest quarterly revenue since going public and strong Adjusted EBITDA as we expanded the number of locations we serve and increased the number of gaming terminals.”
By state, Accel’s terminals continued to post increases in revenue. Georgia (64.8%), Nebraska (23.9%), Montana (7.9%), and Illinois (3.8%) all registered increases. Only revenue from Nevada (5.5%) decreased; information for Louisiana was unavailable, but that’s a new market for Accel, which acquired 85% the state’s route operators Toucan Gaming and SM Gaming in November 2024.
“Early indications are very positive,” said Matt Ellis, chief financial officer, of Louisiana’s outlook. “We are accomplishing a lot of the remodeling, updating, optimization that we had planned for. The results of that have been very positive and an indication we should continue that trend.”
As during most earnings calls this year, Accel management was queried about the possible impact tariffs will have on capital expenditures. Rubenstein said that so far, Accel hasn’t been affected. “Most of our capex spend for the year, the prices have been locked in. So there’s minimal effect on us.”
But the second phase of improvements at Fairmount Park may be affected.
“In terms of construction, obviously, steel has gone up in significant amounts, and we’re going to use bunch of that in the phase two project,” Phelan said. “But given the sort of volatility of laws and the announcements of tariffs, it’s really hard to tell. The phase one project (at Fairmount) was well finished, the prices were well set, before any of these tariffs hit. Right now, we’ll wait to see what happens.”
