A vehement and at times defensive tone characterized Vici Properties’ third-quarter earnings call. At one point, COO John Payne shouted his prepared remarks into the microphone.
CEO Ed Pitoniak broke with his custom of beginning with an overarching view of the real estate industry. Instead, he plunged immediately into a discussion of shareholders’ and his own disappointment with Vici’s stock performance during 2026.
Pitoniak said shareholders raised three points of contention. First was the recent negativity around net-lease-based stocks, driven by pessimism over consumer spending. Second was Vici’s ability to generate accretive growth. Last was the uncertainty surrounding the fate of Vici’s master lease over Caesars Entertainment’s regional casinos.
To address the first issue, Pitoniak said Vici would strive to maintain no more than five-times-cash-flow indebtedness. (Its current debt burden was said to be 4.8 times.) He said Vici would also take a conservative approach to general and administrative expenses.
Regarding the second point, Pitoniak opined that Vici hadn’t lost access to capital. “We are always evaluating and exploring alternative sources of capital.”
And on the Caesars front, Pitoniak said Vici needed to reiterate what it owns amid “market chatter” and how it manages it. He called its holdings “real assets within which significant economic activity is produced.” Pitoniak said he was giving the portfolio close scrutiny “to value what we own.”
Forcefully, Payne insisted that Vici was continuing to diversify, citing four new tenants acquired in 2026, bringing the real estate asset trust’s (REIT) total to 17. “Every one of those tenants is led by an experienced team,” he noted.
Although Payne said Vici was “in continuous dialogue” with gaming and other experiential-real-estate owners, “we will be patient, selective, and disciplined.”
Consumers, the COO added, were still showing up, especially in Las Vegas and regional casinos, with the gaming industry’s revenue up six percent in 2026. “Consumers keep choosing these experiences,” Payne said. “More importantly, operators keep investing in them.”
The question-and-answer portion of the call was dominated by discussion of the $2 billion share-buyback authorization, the first in Vici history. Pitoniak stated that he had never ruled out such a move, likening Vici’s current situation to New York City’s unfortunate condition when he moved there in 1979. “Anyone who said Vici will never come back from this is making the wrong bet,” the CEO remarked.
“We view it as good corporate hygiene,” added CFO David Kieske. He said buybacks would be financed primarily out of loan repayments to Vici, as well as from free cash flow. Asset sales were raised as a tertiary source of buyback funds.
It was restated later in the call that asset sales were not preferred to cash flow or loan recoupment as a capital source. Still, Pitoniak said his colleagues would not be doing their jobs if they weren’t constantly reevaluating their portfolio.
Asked if he would sell loans, Kieske said Vici had already done that with its Hard Rock Ottawa notes and that everything was liquid. Pitoniak interjected that redeployment of Vici capital is a frequent discussion topic and that share repurchases are potentially as productive as loans could be, depending on interest rates.
When the topic of picking off castoff Churchill Downs casinos and racinos was broached, Payne said Vici’s asset pipeline remains robust. He added that his remarks about being disciplined with capital also applied to the Churchill Downs’s properties.
Vici executives were queried about the urgency of resolving the Caesars lease. Pitoniak replied that the REIT would use the time following the Caesars buyout to catalogue and understand all its options with regard to the regional lease. He said two fundamental questions are at work: whether to “fix” the lease or sell it, although he raised the prospect of a third compromise avenue.
An analyst inquired about Fontainebleau Las Vegas’s loan status. Chief Accounting Officer Gabe Wasserman said that is was approaching an extension test. He added that he expected the loan to be recouped and the money redeployed elsewhere.
The topic turned to whether Vici might pool some of its leases into a joint venture, to which Pitoniak responded that the public markets didn’t put much value on distribution income. “As we assess all the choices in front of us, we’re certainly mindful that the income produced by our assets is very appealing.”
Payne elaborated that new tenants were chosen for “our ability to grow with them,” such as Club Med. Other deals are contingent on the cost of capital, he added.
The COO also revisited the subject of the NBA in Las Vegas, “which would be very exciting for us.” He reiterated that Vici is in talks with Caesars about building a basketball-oriented arena on Vici-owned land in Sin City.
Expanding his view to gambling overall, Payne said, “Over the lifetime of our nine years, this is a business that has continued to perform.” He emphasized the importance of taking a long view of the casino portfolio. “You’re going to see these ebbs and flows, but over the course of time, they continue to show growth.”
