Golden Entertainment Revenue Rises, Portfolio Expansion Underway

Operator Golden Entertainment has posted income figures for last year’s final quarter as well as overall favorable revenue outcome for the whole of 2018…

…that prompted the company to set sights on facility expansion in 2019, with six new taverns to be opened throughout the year! Also:

The official statement regarding the current development of The Stratosphere in Las Vegas reads that the $140 million project should be finalized somewhere in 2021.

The End of a Transitional Year

Last year saw the Group acquire Colorado Belle Casino Resort and Edgewater Hotel and Casino properties…

…which significantly cemented their foothold in Nevada’s Laughlin. In 2018, three new taverns were opened, with six more due to arrive this year, according to chairman and chief executive officer, Blake Sartini.

“The 2018 fourth quarter concluded a transitional year for Golden Entertainment. We made considerable progress expanding our scale and diversification, along with developing initiatives to improve results from our operations.”

Owning 40% of Laughlin

He added that during last quarter, Golden Entertainment bettered their Nevada’s distributed gaming business economics via “contract renegotiation’s and rent re-sets across approximately half of our third party distributed chain store locations in Nevada.”

Commenting on the purchase of two Laughlin venues, Sartini stressed the importance of owning nearly 40% of the city’s entire 10,000 room inventory…

…which makes the prospect of expanding its presence in such a value-oriented gaming market all the more exciting, along with the expectations of realizing future cost synergies across combined operations.

Enormous Annual Growth

Last year’s Q4 revenue amounted to $210.1 million, which is a 14.3% leap from prior year’s $183.7 million…

…whereas, for the entire year, the numbers are even better – in total, $851.7 million was earned, a colossal 67.9% surge from 2017’s $507.1 million!

The gaming segment alone saw the 9.7% and 37.7% jump for Q4 and full year respectively – $131 million and $525.1 million.

The Future Looks Bright

Sartini also remarked that with The Stratosphere renovations moving forward and, the company is integrating its new casino management system and is ready to kickstart its new True Rewards players club.

“As we look at the healthy economic environment in Las Vegas, our leading position and synergy opportunities in Laughlin, our success in rationalising the economics of our third party distributed chain store locations in Nevada, and our plans to stabilise and grow our existing platform, we believe Golden’s future is bright and we expect to see the benefits of our efforts over the course of 2019 and beyond.”

William Hill Venture

On February 13th, several Golden Entertainment Nevada properties’ sportsbooks were taken over by US subsidiary of betting brand, William Hill.

The UK brand has begun offering sports betting services at Aquarius Casino Resort, Arizona Charlie’s Boulder and Arizona Charlie’s Decatur. Hill will also be in charge of The Stratosphere sportsbook when the venue is opened later this month.

Source:

“Golden Entertainment sees growth prospects after transitional year”, casinobeats.com, March 15, 2019.