Although Churchill Downs and other rival companies are putting casinos on the market, Full House Resorts won’t be shopping for them. That’s according to CEO Dan Lee and President Lewis Fanger during Full House’s second-quarter earnings call on Thursday.
“We’re a small company and we’re pretty busy,” Lee explained. “It’s not high on our list to take on a third challenge,” he added, referring to Full House’s Chamonix and American Place casinos.
Acquisitions, Lee elaborated, would require financing and debt beyond what Full House already has. “We certainly don’t want to issue equity at these prices. Never say never,” he allowed, floating the idea of being an operating company for a real estate investment trust.
“A lot of times when stuff is being offered, it’s got hair on it,” Lee summarized, saying the Full House was a very choosy company. Fanger laughed and said it might be a very different conversation in three years.
“We had a strong quarter of growth, led by our two recent properties,” Fanger remarked, leading off the call. That included a $12.7 million May for The Temporary at American Place. Fanger added that July, while not as good, had been the Temporary’s second-best month yet.
Chamonix in Cripple Creek, Colorado, had a breakeven quarter, Fanger continued, and was rolling out new more-targeted marketing and new casino hosts. Win per gambling position per day was, the Full House president said, about half the $300-per-day average in nearby Black Hawk and a quarter of what Monarch Black Hawk earned. Fanger’s stated goal was to get the Chamonix number up to $175 per position daily over the next 18 months.
VIP guests made up Chamonix’s strongest customer tranche in June, Fanger continued. “We’re seeing better guests visit and we’re seeing them return.”
Fanger also reported that approval had been received to operate the Waukegan temporary casino through February 2029, longer than needed. It would not be dismantled at that time, he added, but converted into a trade-show and entertainment space for five years.
Lee credited former casino executive Bill Richardson with giving him the idea. “Why are you tearing this down?” Richardson asked. “This would great for a boat show.” Lee added that the sprung structure would be the largest event center between Chicago and Milwaukee.
The CEO also disclosed that the permanent American Place’s design had been refined. For instance, it would no longer be necessary to cross the casino floor to reach the restaurants. He added that the eventual casino would open at less than full gambling-machine capacity.
Changes in the American Place design, Lee continued, were more influenced by Las Vegas’s Durango Resort than anywhere else. Full House added a food hall and was planning a compact back-of-house area. “We didn’t exactly copy it, but we learned from it,” Lee said of Durango.
Lee added that he also studied the four new Illinois casinos, all of which were in the same budget range as American Place, which is budgeted at $302 million. “I know some of these places better than the CEOs of their own companies,” he said.
As for refinements to Chamonix, Lee focused more on amenities than gambling. “We’re holding the line on expenses. We’re growing revenue. We’re also making the marketing more efficient.”
Lee singled out the property’s former Mexican restaurant, saying, “The food was so bad, Lewis and I joked about it.” The new food-and-beverage manager thoroughly refined the menu and the eatery, now branded Don Juan’s, was a hot ticket in Cripple Creek.
“There’s nothing from Sysco,” Lee said. “Everything’s homemade there. We need to do more of that,” including the steakhouse and coffee shop. Another source of discontent had been the Chamonix speakeasy, open only on weekends, but with a full complement of slot machines. Lee had the slots removed and the speakeasy repositioned as a regular bar.
Chamonix now boasts a seven-person sales-and-marketing team to develop group and convention business, Lee continued. “They’re all working their butts off to bring in business,” he said, aiming for 2027 and 2028. “We’ll see the dividends in the years ahead.”
Full House also hired a casino manager from the Las Vegas market. Lee said the executive team at Chamonix was recruited from Ameristar Black Hawk and Bally’s, “and none of them are catering to the high end.”
Lee hoped that would change with the unnamed new hire. The CEO said his new manager had experience at both Wynn Las Vegas and Fontainebleau, two high-end casinos, the latter being “a learning experience in a different way.”
On the subject of other Full House casinos, Lee said that the company’s Grand Lodge property continued to see its revenue impinged by nearby construction. Hyatt owner Larry Ellison had torn down most of the amenities as part of a major rebuild, with the result that Grand Lodge was “a beach resort on Lake Tahoe without a beach. We’re doing OK, but things are off” until the second half of 2027.
With regard to refinancing Full House, Lee said it was going well, but he was plowing through 1,500 pages of documentation. When completed, the new credit facility would entail a four-bank consortium issuing new lines of credit.
