MGM Resorts Hits Quarterly Record as Macao Business ‘Surges’

MGM Resorts International’s $4.5 billion in consolidated revenues is a second-quarter record high for the casino operator, with further cheer coming from gaming tables in Macao.

The firm posted its Q2 report on July 30, with quarterly consolidated revenues rising 1% year-on-year and its Las Vegas Strip revenues up by almost 5%.

There was more good news for the operator’s sister company, MGM China, which reported a post-World Cup recovery.

MGM China’s profits have taken a 7.4% dip in Q2. But the firm’s executive director, Kenneth Feng, told media representatives that Macao-based MGM casinos were “experiencing a post-World Cup surge in business.”

The news will come as a tonic for MGM, one of the Strip’s most prominent operators, amid talk of a Las Vegas slowdown and World Cup-related VIP table spending falls in Macao.

MGM Resorts: Record Q2 Revenues but Sports Betting Stagnant

The quarterly report contained further reasons for optimism for shareholders, with MGM Resorts’ online gaming arm, MGM Digital, posting 20% year-on-year revenue growth.

MGM Resorts’ future remains in the balance amid a takeover bid from the billionaire Barry Diller and his company, People, Inc.

Earlier this month, Chandler Pohl, the MGM Vice President and Legal Counsel, evaded questions on Diller’s plans for MGM’s East Asia operations.

But Bill Hornbuckle, MGM Resorts’ CEO of MGM Resorts International, reaffirmed the company’s intentions to press ahead with plans to build Japan’s first casino.

“Alongside [the] momentum in our existing operations, we continue to build for the future with investment in the largest integrated resort in the world, MGM Osaka, on track for 2030 opening,” Hornbuckle said in an official release.

Macao World Cup Hangover Over

Back in Macao, Feng said that the World Cup had “distracted many tourists and definitely affected various industries and businesses.”

But the media outlet Macau Business quoted Feng as claiming that casino receipts post-World Cup were now “surpassing the levels of the first quarter.”

MGM’s Macao market share remains around 16%, with visitor numbers continuing to rise. In the first half of the year, footfall has risen by 9% to almost 116,000, with MGM Cotai proving the most popular of the company’s two resorts.

It was not all upside for MGM, however. The firm’s sports betting arm, BetMGM, has seen its active monthly users fall by 3%.

The sports betting firm yet again blamed prediction markets for a slide in business. BetMGM said it now expects a delay in reaching its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) target of $500 million.

On the Strip, meanwhile, segment-adjusted earnings were up 3% year-on-year, rising to $735 million.

Diller’s bid for MGM Resorts involves a valuation of $48.30 per share. The company is currently trading at just over $45 on the New York Stock Exchange.

If Diller gets his way, however, the days of trading in the Big Apple could be numbered. The billionaire says he wants to take MGM Resorts private.

A similar deal, already agreed to by Caesars Entertainment and Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta, could also result in the former being delisted.