During Wednesday’s third-quarter earnings call, MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle made a rare admission: charges such as resorts fees and parking costs were overpriced in terms of what the market could bear.
“We just lost control of the narrative,” said Hornbuckle during the call, adding that some things were badly miscalculated.
“When we think about pricing and things that got everyone’s attention, whether it’s the infamous bottle of water or Starbucks coffee at Excalibur that cost $12, shame on us,” Hornbuckle said. “We should have been more sensitive to the overall experience at a place like Excalibur. To those customers, you can’t have a $29 room and a $12 coffee. We’ve gone through the organization and we think, we hope, we believe, we’ve price-corrected.”
MGM Resorts International reported revenue of $4.3 billion for the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 2% year-over-year. The operator attributed the revenue increase to improved prospects at MGM China, where 3Q25 revenue reached $1.1 billion, an increase of 17% compared to the $929 million in 3Q24.
A September report indicated an overall decline in revenue on the Las Vegas Strip and Hornbuckle admitted there are headwinds, including reduced air-travel options and a decline in visitation from international patrons.
“While we’re all trying to do things that make that better. I don’t think that’s going away anytime soon,” Hornbuckle said. “And obviously, that’s really across all of our marketplaces, the international piece, but it also impacts, to a degree for sure, Luxor and Excalibur, the two properties that we struggled with here in Las Vegas the most.”
But MGM Resorts Chief Operating Officer Corey Sanders said most of the operator’s properties are maintaining occupancy volumes.
“You look at Bellagio, you wouldn’t know anything was wrong with it,” said Sanders, who recently announced his retirement at the end of 2025. “The gaming volumes are high in place. This is where it has been in the past. Occupancy rates, sometimes, are a little more challenging than they were last year, but still, we’re able to fill the hotels midweek when the convention base is not here. Luxor and Excalibur probably have the biggest challenges of occupying rooms.”
On October 14, MGM Resorts withdrew its application for a New York casino license. The operator had a $2.3 billion proposal to expand and renovate its Empire City racino and was considered a favorite for approval.
Hornbuckle noted that MGM was comfortable with various considerations, including the state’s education fund, Yonkers Raceway’s horsemen, and the city of Yonkers.
“The thing that concerned us probably the most was at the end, when we thought we were buying a 30-year license and were told it was 15 (years) and it was done after we’d made an original submission,” he said. “That was concerning, because if not for that, then what else? So, while we initially liked the return, it got tighter and tighter and tighter, so much so that given overall market conditions, it’s capital best spent at some other location and some other opportunity.”
