Revenues from Bally’s Corp.’s North American digital operations rose 95 percent in the second quarter, reaching $49.2 million. Company-wide, revenues were up 2.5 percent to $621.7 million, as reported in financial results released late Wednesday.
Of that, $343.1 million came from the Casinos & Resorts division, which showed a three percent improvement despite the subtraction of the Tropicana Las Vegas. International online revenue was a mixed bag, up nine percent in the United Kingdom, but down 7.4 percent elsewhere.
The company ended the quarter with a net loss of $60 million, compared to a $25.6 million loss a year ago. Cash flow was just shy of $161.8 million.
Referring to Bally’s recently announced merger with the Queen Casino Entertainment, CEO Robeson Reaves said, “The combination of QC&E’s development pipeline and our own growth pipeline provides the company with a clear path toward additional revenue, cash-flow growth, and value accretion.”
He added, “Casinos & Resorts revenue of $343.1 million benefited from the ongoing ramp of operations at our Chicago Temporary Casino and stability across most of our portfolio, offset by the closure of Tropicana and in part by property-specific headwinds in certain markets. The Chicago Temporary Casino, having now welcomed more than one million total visitors, continues to gain traction with players and our local database is growing.”
On the negative side of the ledger, Robeson said, “In Rhode Island, local bridge construction on Interstate 195 has led to lane closures, which disrupt traffic during peak periods, impacting visitation to our Lincoln property. In addition, we experienced an increase in promotional activity from certain Massachusetts properties, which we’re managing through.”
Continued Reaves, “Finally, though we continue to invest in our Atlantic City property, turnover in our relationship-marketing team impacted second-quarter results for this market. Reflecting the impact on operations in these markets, second-quarter segment adjusted EBITDAR declined 10 percent year over year.”
Turning to the U.K. market, Reaves observed, “It reflects continuing igaming share gains and the initial results from accelerating the soft launch of our online sports betting offering. Outside the U.K., our business in Asia was challenged in the quarter, as we continue to work through several logistical and operational hurdles that directly impacted players.”
That being said, “We believe the Asian Interactive market remains an attractive opportunity and we will continue to manage and grow our position in this important region. … We continue to generate excellent results in our New Jersey and Pennsylvania igaming markets, as well as from our Bally Bet OSB operations, driven in part by the ongoing integration of the Kambi and White Hat technology platforms, which have garnered positive player feedback and enhanced our ability to deliver a leading product offering.”
Bally’s bosses guided Wall Street toward the lower end of their projected cash flow range for 2024 of $655 million to $695 million.
