Bolstered by continued success in New Jersey, promising results in Michigan, and recent market access agreements in Colorado and Iowa, Golden Nugget Online Gaming post significant year-over-year gains for the first quarter of 2021.
Revenue for the three months ending March 31 was $26.7 million, compared to $17.3 million for the three months ending March 31, 2020, a 54% increase. Net income was $69.6 million, compared to $4.2 million in the first quarter of 2020.
“We feel increasingly confident about what Golden Nugget Online Gaming can be as we expand into our new geographic areas and continue to build our scale,” said GNOG CEO and Chairman Tillman Fertitta Tuesday during an earnings conference call.
Last year Fertitta created GNOG as a separate public business, valued at $745 million, from his Golden Nugget Casinos.
Golden Nugget’s online gaming business launched in New Jersey in 2013 and has since been aggressive in acquiring access to other states. Pennsylvania was added in 2019, and GNOG reached agreements with Illinois, Michigan, and West Virginia in 2020 to provide mobile sports betting and igaming. Agreements were reached this year for online sports betting and igaming in Colorado through Maverick’s Z Casino, and in Iowa via the Wild Rose Casino, pending legislation and regulatory approval.
“Our state expansion plans are going extremely well and we’re now under agreements in geographies that represent nearly a third of the U.S. population,” Fertitta said. “Put very simply, we have a very strong playbook to run from based on our experience in New Jersey and it’s our aim to recreate that same success in more and more states across the country.”
President Thomas Winter credited the company’s quarterly results to three factors: the “tremendous growth” of igaming; player loyalty to the Golden Nugget brand that results in increased spend; and strong player acquisition and retention as GNOG’s expands into new states.
Michigan has proven especially lucrative for GNOG. Fertitta said the company grew its revenue in Michigan by 14% in April 2021, ‘
“In our first full month of operation (in Michigan), we generated $3.9 million in gross gaming revenue, which took us more than four years to achieve in New Jersey,” Winter said.
Winter said that GNOG expects to go live in four more states this year.
“Next quarter, we are getting ready to launch online casino and sports in West Virginia and online sports in Virginia,” Winter said during the call. “In the fourth quarter, we plan to launch online casino in Pennsylvania and online sports in Illinois. Early next year, we look forward to launching in Colorado, Iowa and Louisiana.”
Winter added that GNOG is discussions to enter markets in several states, and in Ontario, Canada.
