Driven by a strong Las Vegas locals business and Midwest and South segment, Boyd Gaming had a solid third quarter.
The company’s third-quarter earnings call announced revenue of $1 billion compared to $961.2 million in the third quarter of 2024.
“We’ve seen strong play from our core customers and as we look at the database and source of our revenue in Las Vegas, our local customers are performing extremely well,” said Boyd CEO Keith Smith. “The shortfall is really all about the destination business that’s been widely reported. How long that continues, we’ll all have to see. We’ve seen in our forward 90-day bookings at hotels in Las Vegas some improvement, but it’s still soft. It’s better than we saw three months ago. Have we turned the corner? It’s hard to say.”
Boyd Gaming CFO Josh Hirsberg said when The Orleans is separated from the rest of the business, there’s growth in gaming revenues in the portfolio and growth in overall revenue and growth in adjusted earnings and consistency in margins.
“The gaming revenue is growing in line with the overall market,” Hirsberg said. “We feel pretty good about the underlying customer trend overall. It’s just one aspect of the business we’re trying to deal with and in fact when you look at the segment’s performance for EBITDAR decline, the Orleans was down even more than what we’re seeing in the segment.”
Smith said their Las Vegas properties are well positioned and they’re looking at a number of restaurant projects as part of their capital plan to keep Boyd properties competitive. He said the slot floors match up well with others in the marketplace.
“I want to make an investment in the Orleans (in 2026) to make sure it’s competitive in the long term,” Smith said.
Hirsberg said they will manage through the disruption of the construction at the Orleans as they have at Suncoast, which is still in line with revenues compared to the previous year. “I wouldn’t expect anything significant (in terms of disruption) at the Orleans.”
Hirsberg said the impact of the destination business to Las Vegas is reflected in hotel revenues year-over-year. “It has affected every property in Las Vegas and outside of Las Vegas as well. There’s food and beverage and banquet business and a significant amount of gaming revenue associated with that. It is very profitable to us.”
Smith said volumes in downtown Las Vegas, aided by visitation from outside the marketplace, are down. “Our core Hawaiian market performed normally, but we felt softness from a lack of tourism on the street.”
Deutsche Bank reported the total EBITDAR for the Las Vegas locals segment that includes the Orleans was $92.1 million, down 4.4% from a year ago. Downtown Las Vegas EBITDAR was $16.1 million, down 2.4%. The Midwest and South segment was $201.6 million, up 2.4%, and came in higher than analysts expected.
“When we look across that portfolio that comprises 17 properties, it was generally broad-based, but there’s always one or two that don’t perform quite as strong in any given quarter,” Smith said of the Midwest and South segment.
Several competitors in the Midwest and South have been aggressive and Smith said Boyd has been disciplined as reflected in consistent margins.
“We’ve seen some enhanced marketing, but we’re not responding,” Smith said. “Our enhanced marketing is in relation to the declines in destination business (in Las Vegas) and not in relation to what our competitors are doing.”