Golden Entertainment, the Las Vegas-based company that operates casinos and slot machine routes in Nevada and elsewhere, in addition to a major tavern chain, reported its first-quarter earnings this week.
Company: Golden Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: GDEN)
Revenue: $91 million, compared to $12.8 million in the first quarter of 2015. The prior year’s figure only includes revenue from Lakes Entertainment, a public company that merged with the privately owned Golden Gaming last year, creating what is now Golden Entertainment.
Combining the results of Golden Gaming and Lakes Entertainment for 2015’s first quarter, net revenue grew 7.4 percent.
Earnings: $2.2 million, compared to a loss of $1.7 million in the first quarter last year. The prior year does not include Golden Gaming.
Earnings per share: 10 cents, compared to a loss of 13 cents per share during the same period a year earlier.
What it means: Golden Entertainment’s business includes a route of slot machines inside Nevada grocery stores and other locations, and similar operations in Montana. The company also runs Nevada taverns under brands including PT’s, Sierra Gold and Sean Patrick’s, three casinos in Pahrump and one in Maryland.
Pretending as if the merger was in effect during the first quarter last year, Golden Entertainment’s distributed gaming segment grew revenue 11.2 percent year over year to $68.6 million. That segment includes both the slot route and the tavern business.
CEO Blake Sartini said on a conference call with analysts that results from the 1,000 gambling machines his company bought in Montana were included after the acquisition closed in the first quarter.
Golden Entertainment also opened a new brewery concept, PT’s Brewing Company, in the first quarter, and Sartini said the company is on track to open six new tavern locations in Las Vegas this year.
In the company’s casino business segment, revenue fell 2.7 percent year over year to $22.4 million.
Chief Financial Officer Matthew Flandermeyer said on the conference call that the company’s Pahrump business was disrupted by the installation of a new player tracking and marketing system there, particularly in February, and that Nye County “continued to present a challenging operating environment” during the quarter.
A new sports book operated by William Hill recently debuted at Golden Entertainment’s Pahrump Nugget casino. Sartini said on the conference call that the company plans to roll out other new additions in the Pahrump market this year.
On top of the 1,000 Montana machines Golden Entertainment acquired in January, the company in April acquired some 1,800 machines in Montana.
Sartini said Golden Entertainment continues to see other options for expansion, particularly in Pennsylvania.
There, he said, the company has secured gaming rights for “potential licenseable locations for a modest investment in a strategic relationship with an established amusement operator.” But that assumes legislative approval in the future, he said.