Full House Resorts applies to build new Illinois hotel-casino; loss widens and results miss Street forecasts

August 9, 2019 4:30 PM
  • Matthew Crowley, CDC Gaming Reports
August 9, 2019 4:30 PM
  • Matthew Crowley, CDC Gaming Reports

Full House Resorts credited recent renovations for boosting performance at its Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, hotel-casino and said that the company has applied to build a hotel-casino near Chicago. But Full House’s loss widened from a year earlier, and neither earnings per share nor revenue beat Wall Street forecasts.

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In a statement issued after stock markets closed Thursday, Las Vegas-based Full House Resorts said its net loss was $1 million, or 4 cents per diluted share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with a net loss of $700,000, or 2 cents per diluted share, a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research had, on average, forecast earnings of 8 cents per share.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a cash flow measure that filters out one-time costs, fell 2.3 percent, to $4.3 million, from $4.4 million.

Revenue rose 1.2 percent to $41.7 million from $41.2 million. Zacks-polled analysts had, on average, forecast earnings of $41.9 million.

Looking forward, Full House said it submitted a proposal on Aug. 5 to build and operate American Place, a hotel-casino in Waukegan, Illinois, about 35 miles north of downtown Chicago. The company said that, if its bid is selected, it intends to build a casino with approximately 1,500 slot machines, 60 table games, and a luxury boutique hotel.

Full House didn’t estimate the project’s cost or say when an approval might come.

Reflecting on the quarter, the Silver Slipper hotel-casino in Bay St. Louis was a bright spot. Revenue there rose 8 percent from a year earlier to $18.9 million. The company in May finished a renovation of the hotel-casino that included a new casino carpet and new wall coverings and seating in the buffet.

At Rising Star, a hotel-casino in Rising Sun, Indiana, net revenue fell 10 percent to $11.6 million from $12.5 million a year earlier. Full House said road construction and repaving on a key highway route to the hotel-casino caused traffic delays and hurt results. However, Full House said it will open a sportsbook in the fall to capitalize on Indiana’s May decision to legalize sports betting.

At Full House’s Bronco Billy’s hotel-casino in Cripple Creek, Colorado, net revenue rose 1.4 percent to $6.9 million from $6.8 million. If voters approve sports wagering in the November election (legislators OK’d it pending a public vote), Full House said it expects to partner on three Internet sports wagering sites in Colorado, and add a sportsbook at Bronco Billy’s, with operations beginning in mid-2020.

“Both Rising Star and Bronco Billy’s are also preparing for the start of sports wagering in Indiana and potentially in Colorado,” Full House CEO Dan Lee said in a statement accompanying the results. “Given the positive impact of sports wagering at our Silver Slipper Casino in Mississippi over this past year, we expect sports wagering to have a significant impact at Rising Star.”

In Full House’s Northern Nevada segment, consisting of the Grand Lodge and Stockman’s hotel-casinos, net revenue fell 2.3 percent in the quarter from $4.3 million and $4.4 million. Heavy snowpack impeded spring and early summer activities at Lake Tahoe, the company said, hurting the segment’s revenue.

Full House Resorts shares fell 2 cents, or 1.15 percent, Thursday to close at $1.72 on the Nasdaq. The shares gained in after-hours trading, rising 6 cents, or 3.49 percent, to reach $1.78 at 2:30 p.m. PDT.

Follow Matthew Crowley on Twitter @copyjockey.