Caesars Entertainment executives said Las Vegas has rebounded from its lows last summer, with 95% occupancy in the first quarter. As such, it’s “in a much healthier spot” and the “downdraft is in the rearview mirror.”
The execs gave a positive presentation during a first-quarter earnings call Tuesday, although they wouldn’t take any questions from Wall Street analysts about a potential sale of the company or taking it private.
Las Vegas operating trends improved over the fourth quarter, while regional properties maintained revenue and EBITDAR growth after excluding the impact of the Super Bowl in New Orleans in February 2025. Regionals are off to a strong start in April and Caesars’s C-suite feel is optimistic about that segment the rest of 2026.
Caesars also recorded first-quarter records in revenue and adjusted earnings in the digital segment and is off to a good start in the second quarter.
President and Chief Operating Officer Anthony Carano said occupancy in Las Vegas and year-over-year increase in average daily room rates of 1% showed a “dramatic improvement from the second half of 2025.” Occupancy and rates benefited from a strong convention lineup, with groups making up 19% of the occupancy during the first quarter.
“While leisure trends were still down on a year-over-basis, they improved versus the second half of 2025,” Carano said. “We remained focused on improving our product offerings in Las Vegas. Our newly renovated villas at Caesars Palace, room product, and casino floor remodels continue to generate excellent feedback from our guests.”
Carano mentioned the opening of their day club at Caesars Palace on May 15 and the full remodel of the Augustus Tower slated for completion by early 2027.
“For the remainder of 2026, we continue to forecast sequential improvement in Las Vegas driven by strong group and convention mix and stabilizing leisure trends,” Carano said.
CEO Tom Reeg said he was happy with the start of the year, calling it a strong quarter.
“Vegas is obviously in a much healthier spot than it was in the middle of last year,” Reeg said. “It’s still a very strong market when big events and groups are in town and softness when that isn’t the case. The CON-AGG (construction tradeshow in March) week here was spectacular across the market. The entire city gets to participate in those types of events and we want more of them. We’re working with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to find more prospects like that.”
As for the second quarter, Reeg said he had previously predicted it would be up slightly year-over-year, but April was softer than anticipated, because they didn’t hold gaming revenue like a year ago.
“It will likely be just short of last year, but much healthier than it’s been,” Reeg said. “Then we cycle into comps versus last summer. Everyone remembers that it was a tough summer in Vegas. The (independent traveler) continues to improve and our bookings feel good. It just feels like a healthier market than it did 10 months ago.”
In response to a question, Reeg said he expects to see typical seasonality this summer.
“The leisure customer does feel a little firmer each quarter since the third quarter of last year,” Reeg said. “Weeks when the market has epic group events, significant sporting events, and attractions are exceedingly strong, though weeks in April were soft without a great calendar in the market. Group business this year should be another record on top of last year’s record. In May, the State Farm conference comes back. That will be a nice lift for us. The downdraft … is in the rearview mirror. It should be pretty stable going forward.”
Reeg said the center Strip has held up the best, while both the south and north ends have held up “less well,” and high end has held up better than low end. “Center Strip has trumped high end versus low end. We don’t have a bifurcation between Caesars Palace and Harrah’s in terms of performance. It’s all fairly uniform for us.”
In discussing the Las Vegas leisure traveler, Carano said the team welcomes guests at all price points, including offers for all-you-can-eat-and-drink at a number of properties on the east side of the Strip.
“I know that the narrative has been out there for quite a while (that Las Vegas is overpriced), but we were over 95% occupancy this quarter and feel really good about where we are in terms of price value,” Reeg said.
Reeg said casino offerings to lure customers are scheduled for weeks that aren’t as busy and still drive revenue, rather than being loss leaders or break-even propositions.
Reeg said the regional consumer has been “remarkably resilient” and that the business segment is firm. “I expect regional to be a healthy grower the rest of the year and the second quarter is off to a good start.”
