Mohegan Sun Las Vegas and MGE Digital boost 28% growth for the parent company's revenues
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Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment (MGE), on Thursday posted overall net revenues of $358.5 million in its second fiscal quarter ended March 31, a year-over-year increase of 28.7%, and adjusted EBITDA of $86.7 million, an increase of 7.4%.
These improvements were due to "strong performance" at the company's owned properties and the addition of Mohegan Sun Las Vegas and MGE Digital, compared to the prior-year period, where volumes were negatively impacted by various COVID-19 related restrictions, including the closure of the MGE Niagara Resorts for the entire period, the closure of Mohegan Sun Pocono for three days, self-imposed capacity limitations at Mohegan Sun and state-mandated health protocols at most of the company's other properties.
Mohegan Sun Las Vegas and MGE Digital's online casino gaming and sports wagering operations saw a total Adjusted EBITDA of $1.7 million, comprised of $165,000 from Mohegan Sun Las Vegas and $1.5 million from MGE Digital.
"Although visitation was somewhat impacted by the Omicron variant and poor weekend weather at our Northeast properties early in the quarter, the consolidated Adjusted EBITDA margin of 24.2% was 234 basis points higher than the pre-COVID comparable fiscal 2019 quarter," noted Raymond Pineault, Chief Executive Officer of the company.
Carol Anderson, Chief Financial Officer of MGE, commented: "These results demonstrate MGE's ability to adapt to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and reflect the current stabilizing operating environment. We have reintroduced some lower margin non-gaming amenities since the prior-year period, and last year also included temporary reductions in labor, marketing and entertainment expenses as well as deferred operating expenses that were necessary to operate within the early phases of the COVID-impacted environment."
Connecticut's flagship property for the tribal operator, Mohegan Sun, generated $215.5 million in net revenue and $44.2 million in profit in the second quarter of its fiscal year. Net revenue was up 14% over the same period last year while profit, or net income, was down 15.3%. In the US, MGE also operates casinos in Pennsylvania, Washington, Nevada and New Jersey. In Canada, it runs MGE Niagara Resorts in Ontario.
During the latest quarter, Mohegan Sun opened its permanent FanDuel sportsbook and continued to develop the first phase of its Inspire integrated casino resort project in Incheon, South Korea. MGE reported that concrete structural work is progressing at all of the Incheon project’s three hotel towers while structural steelwork is underway on other areas, including a casino and a 15,000-seat arena. The facility is scheduled to open in late 2023.
In an earnings call with investors, Jody Madigan, MGE’s chief operating officer, said inflation and high gas prices have yet to affect “visitation” at the company’s casinos, The Day reports. When asked to quantify the impact of the Omicron variant and poor weather during the quarter, he estimated each accounted for several million dollars’ worth of lost revenue.
In addition, Pineault said MGE is pleased with the performance of its digital gaming in Connecticut, where online gaming and sports betting were introduced in October last year.
In an interview with Yogonet this month, Jeff Hamilton, President and General Manager of Mohegan Sun, said the integration of the company's rewards program Momentum, which already links retail with digital gaming, will also include sports betting, and long term it will run between jurisdictions. "The growth of Momentum is something that is a key strategy for us over the course of the next 3 to 5 years, something that has been a competitive advantage for us here in Connecticut," he said.
