MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle told investors Thursday that the company’s biggest focus in 2025 is on its digital presence with the possibility of new igaming states. That’s followed by Las Vegas and prospects in New York City, Brazil, and Japan. Hornbuckle and CFO Jonathan Halkyard spoke at the invitation-only J.P. Morgan Gaming, Lodging, Restaurant and Leisure Management Access Forum in Las Vegas.
“I think you will see our BetMGM business at $2.5 billion give or take and our internet interactive group go to about a half-billion with Brazil on the horizon,” Hornbuckle said. “The inflation of that business is priority No. 1. Obviously, we continue to stay focused on Las Vegas. If you think about our assets, from Bellagio to the Cosmopolitan and Aria, that leans into our strength.”
Without elaborating, Hornbuckle said regional properties “are as solid as a rock, even with what’s happening in Washington, D.C,” He added that Macau continues to perform well and the company continues to hold share in the mid-teens.
In terms of the next line of development, Hornbuckle cited New York, where MGM is vying for a casino license.
He’s headed to Japan next week where it has a joint venture for an integrated resort in Osaka set to open in 2030. “We’re at a point where it’s time for finalization of construction and pricing. It’s slated for April going into the ground with pylons and the build cycle is through the middle of 2025.”
Hornbuckle said casinos will ultimately happen in Thailand, but probably not as fast as people like to think it will. “I’d like to think that by the first part of next year, there’s real legislation and that process that has been identified. They’ve talked about five locations – two in Bangkok and three other locales. If we get anything there, it would be through our MGM China entity. It’s an amazing marketplace and cheap to build at 35 to 40 cents on the dollar compared to anything here and even cheaper to operate. If you’re lucky enough to get a license and build something of substance, it’s a meaningful market and the margin would be pretty extensive.”
Halkyard said MGM started the year with an “exceptionally strong” January in Las Vegas, both gaming and room rates. The transient and group businesses have done well.
“February and March are playing out as we expected they would,” Halkyard said. “As we look out to the balance of the year, the results of our company here in Las Vegas will get less choppy than they’ve been the last couple of quarters, because we won’t have some of the comps (Super Bowl) year-over-year.”
Hornbuckle said parking and resort fees and ATM costs have gone up at its resorts and they’re already seeing a return. Automation continues and he cited seeing a robot cleaning the carpet at Bellagio.
In Las Vegas, MGM hasn’t updated the rooms at the MGM Grand in 12-plus years and is much needed, Hornbuckle said. The furniture will go to Excalibur.
“We put $300 million into those rooms, and we were getting noise from our conference business and rightfully so,” Hornbuckle said. “We’ve taken out tubs in the bathrooms. A lot of it is infrastructure. It’s oriented toward group and leisure customers. The MGM is far more sophisticated and far more elegant, and we think it is a great product.”
Halkyard said not much capital has been invested in room upgrades over the last decade, but the operator has since completed renovations at Bellagio, New York-New York, Luxor, and Excalibur. Next year, Halkyard said they will address the Aria at CityCenter, while Mandalay Bay will be done in 2027 and 2028.
“We’re going to reduce the age of our rooms from nine years a few years ago to four years now and that will allow us to sustain growth and average daily room rates and retention and growth of this high-value group business among other things,” Halkyard said.
The MGM Grand renovation will have a $65 million impact on revenue in 2026, with 800 rooms out of service, Halkyard said.
Hornbuckle highlighted the impact of sports on Las Vegas.
“Sports has been and will continue to be a key driver. I met with A’s owner John Fisher last week and baseball is coming. It will happen and what’s around the ($1.75 billion stadium on the former Tropicana site) and what Bally’s decides to do, time will tell.”
With three stadiums in close proximity with one another, Hornbuckle said they’re all 700 to 800 yards away from MGM’s 36,000 rooms. Even though MGM’s T-Mobile Arena loses out on business to Allegiant Stadium, he said the casino operator still benefits. He predicted the National Finals Rodeo will ultimately relocate to the A’s stadium from the campus of UNLV that will further aid MGM’S hotel-casinos.
In discussing the sports betting and igaming space, Hornbuckle said MGM spent $13 million on a television commercial in 2024 and that it “probably wasn’t a great idea.” They’ve pulled back on marketing and pumped the product instead, with single-game parlays, omnichannel, and a single wallet.
“We’re not the fastest, but we’re twice as fast as we were,” Hornbuckle said. “We stopped losing share. We’re seeing a lot of green shoots, particularly in January, February, and March. We did some things we learned from, marketing and expense wise.”
As for igaming itself, Hornbuckle said a couple of more states are open for it in the near future. Expansion is most likely in Democratic states that have more programs and need the tax dollars, such as Maryland, New York, and Illinois.
“It’s not the panacea we’d hoped,” Hornbuckle said. “Igaming is in seven states, but in three is two-thirds of our top line. What happens in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Jersey is meaningful. If a single state comes onboard, there are big numbers to be had there.”
In Brazil, Hornbuckle said operators are struggling with getting people online by dealing with facial recognition and an extensive signup process. He said MGM will ultimately excel there and that their efforts will be dialed up in the next four to six weeks.
“Brazil will be that story and BetMGM in a couple more markets goes from a half-billion to a billion top-line business,” Hornbuckle said.
