Caesars Entertainment – which operates 10 hotel-casinos on and near the Strip – today released third quarter results which showed a 1.5% decline in figures.
In a statement, Caesars said hurricane-related closures in Atlantic City during August were to blame for the reduced results. Hurricane Irene caused the temporary closures of the company’s four Atlantic City casinos during one of the final weekends of the peak summer season.
Caesars, estimated the closures reduced revenues by approximately $22 million to $27 million and reduced cash flow by approximately $15 million to $20 million. By 30 Sept figures were $2.254 billion compared with $2.288 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
Despite having a finger in a lot of pies, Caesars also said new competition in the Illinois and Indiana region reduced results at the company’s casinos in the Midwest.
However, results from Caesars casinos along the Strip – including Caesars Palace, Harrah’s Las Vegas, Bally’s Las Vegas – and in Reno helped offset the Atlantic City declines.
Caesars Chairman Gary Loveman said: “While weather-related property closures in the Atlantic City Region impacted our overall third-quarter results, we saw strengthening fundamentals in our Nevada and international operations.
“We also made significant progress on an exciting growth agenda aimed at expanding our distribution network, increasing the strength of our core brands and streamlining our organization.”
The company said rated-play visitations tracked by its players rewards program declined 5.1 percent companywide due to the weather issues. However, the amount of money spent by customers per trip increased 3 percent.
Caesars Entertainment is privately owned but has publicly owned debt. In a conference call on the topic of the revenue losses later today, Loveman said increased liberalisation in Asian gaming markets is “good for our industry,” suggesting that Caesars is looking at Japan as a potential for growth. He also revealed that Florida was a “very desirable” option.
