Century Casinos Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
August 7, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Century Casinos reported record second-quarter performance with revenues of $150.8 million and adjusted EBITDAR of $30.3 million, a 50% sequential and 10% year-over-year increase.
  • Positive Sentiment: The newly opened Century Casino and Hotel Caruthersville drove a 26% rise in net operating revenue and a 31% boost in EBITDAR, fueled by double-digit growth across all customer segments.
  • Positive Sentiment: In May, the company partnered with BetMGM to launch online and mobile sports betting in Missouri this December, featuring guaranteed minimum payments and optional retail sportsbook sites.
  • Positive Sentiment: Century turned cash flow positive, held $85.5 million in cash, improved its net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to 6.2×, faces no debt maturities until 2029, and plans no more than $20 million in CapEx this year.
  • Neutral Sentiment: In Poland, the company missed a license for a second Warsaw casino but secured a Wroclaw license and expects to sign an LOI to divest its Polish operations shortly.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Century Casinos Q2 2025
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's Century Casinos Q2 twenty twenty five Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Later, you will have an opportunity to ask questions during the question and answer session. You may register to ask a question at any time by pressing the star and one on your telephone keypad. Please note this call is being recorded, and I will be standing by if you should need any assistance.

Operator

It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Peter Hutzinger. Please go ahead, sir.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our earnings call. We would like to remind everyone that we will be discussing forward looking information under the Safe Harbor provisions of The U. S. Federal securities laws. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward looking statements, and actual results may differ from those projected.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Throughout our call, we refer to several non GAAP financial measures, including but not limited to adjusted EBITDAR. Reconciliations of our non GAAP measures to the appropriate GAAP measures can be found in our news releases and SEC filings available in the Investors section of our website at cnty.com. After our prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions from analysts. My Co CEO, Erwin Heitzman and our Chief Financial Officer, Mrs. Margaret Stabeltin, will join me for that.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

We announced strong second quarter results this morning. Both revenue and adjusted EBITDA were all time records for a second quarter. Revenues were $150,800,000 driven by strength in Missouri, Canada and Poland. EBITDAR came in at $30,300,000 a 50% sequential increase and a 10% increase over Q2 of last year. The strong EBITDAR growth was broad based with every region except Nevada contributing positive growth.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Our results were supported by continued strength in play from our core customers as well as improving trends among retail and lower end customers. More color and granularity on the individual properties and markets will come from Erwin shortly. It was a busy quarter for us. In addition to the strong operational performance, let me point out a few of the other highlights. In May, we announced a partnership with BetMGM to operate an online and mobile sports betting application under our license in Missouri.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

The agreement includes a percentage of net gaming revenue payable to us with a guaranteed minimum as well as retail sportsbook options to be exercised at our discretion. Sports betting is expected to go live in Missouri in December, so we expect to see meaningful contributions from BetMGM in our financials in 2026. Also in Missouri, the new property in Caruthersville continues to perform really well. The increase in net operating revenue and EBITDAR since the opening of the new casino and hotel on November is twenty six percent and thirty one percent, respectively. In Poland, we were notified in June that we have not received a new license for a second casino in Warsaw.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

However, the license for our flagship casino operation in Warsaw at the Presidential Hotel, the ex Marriott, runs through 2028. For Poland's third largest city, the city of Wroclaw, we have been awarded an additional license and we expect to open that casino in the fourth quarter of this year. We are still committed to divesting our Poland operations. In fact, we do expect to sign a debt of intent with an Eastern European gaming group next week, so we'll be under exclusivity on our Poland business shortly. We'll provide updates on the Poland investment process in the coming months as appropriate. And with that, over to you, Erwin.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Thank you, Peter, and good morning, everyone. I will provide an overview of the performance of our assets for the second quarter, starting with Missouri. Our new Caruthersville Casino and Hotel property, which we opened on 11/01/2024, continues to be very successful in the second quarter. Total revenue grew 24% and operating expenses and comps were tightly controlled. This resulted in a 30% increase in EBITDAR from 4 700,000 in Q2 twenty twenty four to 6 100,000 in Q2 twenty twenty five and a healthy 43% margin.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

These growth numbers are driven by double digit percentage increases in the properties customer base across all segments, specifically the high value customers, all age groups, particularly those aged 30 to 39, and all distance ranges with special mention of the 75 plus mile distance range, which increased by 41%. The number of visitors increased by 20% quarter over quarter. Carruthersville is situated in the Missouri Boothill, approximately 95 miles north of Memphis. Tennessee customers contribute about 50% of the revenue, with the remainder split among customers from Missouri, Arkansas and other states. The property is conveniently accessible by car with ample parking, and the new hotel and amenities are drawing patterns from longer distances.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

The project cost of 51,900,000.0 was funded through financing provided by VICI through our master lease. As a result, rent due to VICI increased by approximately 1,100,000.0 per quarter. The property's EBITDA after subtracting the VICI rent was up over 10% compared to Q2 of last year prior to the increase in rent. The transition from the owned riverboat was partly driven by our desire to provide significantly improved entertainment and hospitality experiences to our customers and partly by the necessity of moving of the Mississippi River onto the protected side of the flood wall. So far the property has exceeded our expectations and therefore we couldn't be more pleased with our new Century Casino and Hotel Carataswift and the continued growth we expect at the property.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Now on to our Century Casino and Hotel Casiarado. This property was built to high standards in 2012. We purchased the operating company in late twenty nineteen and VICI acquired the underlying real estate at the same time. In 2022, we decided to build a hotel to complement the property's amenities and to prepare for an incoming competitor in Illinois. The Riverview Hotel opened in April 2024.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

In the '25, the hotel continued to grow its cash revenue, which more than doubled compared to the same quarter in 2024. The hotel drove incremental food and beverage revenue, F and P cash revenue grew 31% and most importantly, it increased associated gaming revenue, which was $556 per comp hotel guest in the second quarter. The ADR for retail customers was $151 We're very pleased with the results of the hotel, as we have absorbed the new competition by expanding the reach of the property, with veterans from outside of 75 miles increasing by 28% since the hotel opened. We continue to refine our strategy with the hotel and believe we have ample room to grow given our current occupancy rates and the value of gaming customers who stay at the hotel. Overall, gaming revenue remained slightly behind last year.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Severe storms and tornado activity in April heavily impacted the property. A total of nine days were affected, five weekdays and four weekend days, with much of the Illinois market blocked off due to flooding on those days. However, because of well controlled expenses, the property's EBITDAR increased namely by 3% to 6,500,000.0, resulting in a margin of 37% in the quarter. Looking ahead, we are particularly excited about our partnership with BetMGM. We plan to launch online sports betting in Missouri at the end of this year and have begun preparing for a fantastic BetMGM branded retail sports book.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

This will enhance the property's appeal as a prime regional entertainment destination, further revenue and profitability growth. Continuing with the Midwest segment, let's review the performance of our operations in Colorado. Centrex Casino Cripple Creek had an excellent second quarter. EBITDA was $1,900,000 compared to $2,400,000 in '24. The $2,400,000 however, includes a breakage fee from the termination of a sports betting agreement in May '24, amounting to $850,000 Therefore, on a comparable basis, EBITDAR was up 23% in the quarter.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

As you will recall, we eliminated live table games at our Colorado properties in Q1 twenty twenty five. The cost saving effects from eliminating live table games far exceed the lost revenue. The all new prominently located electronic table games lounge, the first in this gaming market, proved to be a popular alternative for our customers. Although we saw a decline in trips and visitors in this quarter, the average spend per trip was up by 28% with our higher value segments performing very well. I should also mention that we finished a complete redesign of the main entrance to the casino in this quarter.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Previously, this corner was somewhat tucked away and difficult to access from the sidewalks. Now we have a wide entrance on two sides, newly designed and lavish stairs connecting to the sidewalk and the prominent Century Casino sign above the entrances. We believe that this project, along with the numerous minor improvements we have made to the property over the last twelve months, contributes to the property's continued success. To sum it up, we are very pleased with this asset in our portfolio, which we have fully owned and operated for over thirty years. As for Century Casino Central City, we reported on the Q1 earnings call that Q1 was a transitional quarter for Central City with multiple cleanup initiatives started and completed.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

We are pleased to report that these efforts began to yield results in the second quarter. EBITDA was 9 and $10,000 which is flat to the same quarter of last year when adjusted for $200,000 less revenue from sports betting. The EBITDA margin at this property was just below 20% compared to 40% at Century Casinos Crypt Creek based on very similar net operating revenues. The difference is due to significantly higher gaming and property taxes, as well as the higher marketing spend due to the strong competition from Blackhawk. This property traditionally had a fair amount of play from retail customers who preferred not to join the property's loyalty club.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

The retail segment decreased during that period, while carded revenue remained almost flat. We maintain our focus on driving continuous improvement and increasing revenue and profitability at this property. We've owned and operated Century Casino Central City for almost twenty years, during which time we have seen competitors come and go in the Central City gaming market. Now let's take a look at the performance of our East segment. Our Mountaineer Casino Resort in West Virginia had an excellent second quarter.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

EBITDA was 4,100,000.0 compared to 3,600,000.0 in '24, an increase of 12%. Total revenue was up 3% driven by a 39% increase in iGaming revenue, which offset a 6% decline in table games revenue. Operating expense savings of 7% were achieved through improvements and efficiencies in procurement and internal processes. In this quarter, we completed the full remodel of the facade and portco share of the property's main casino entrance, which now provides a much improved sense of arrival and excitement. Following a strong Q1, despite some weather disruptions, first half year EBITDA in Mountaineer is up close to 10% and we expect continued strong performance at the property going forward, noting there will be some noise in the Q3 numbers from one time impacts in Q3 of last year.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Let's move on to Rocky Gap Casino Resort in Maryland. Rocky Gap's second quarter was again challenged by significant weather events including a total of nine storms and flooding incidents. Although the weather was not helpful for a full reversal of EBITDA declines in this quarter, we have seen significant improvement since the first quarter. Overall, carded gaming revenue increased by 7% and the average spent per trip increased by 9%. Specifically, month of June marked a clear turnaround.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Even with one fewer Saturday compared to last year, we saw slot revenue increase by 9% compared to the same period in '24. Importantly, retail and low ADT play started to improve in June, driven by upward trends in the local economy and consumer confidence and our new direct mailer strategy. As a result, in June revenue grew 7% and EBITDA grew 21%. July is trending positively as well with slot revenue 8% up. Given these trends, we are optimistic about ROCE Gap for the remainder of this year and moving the property back to its prior levels of profitability.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Moving on to the rest segment with the Nugget Casino Resort in Reno Sparks. We are not yet where we want to be with the Nugget. EBITDA for the quarter was $2,300,000 representing a decrease of approximately 550,000 thousand dollars from the same quarter last year. What did not work out in this quarter were the concerts at the property's 8,500 seat outdoor event center, which did not yield expected returns due to a lack of ticket sales. Fewer visitors at the concert created a ripple effect on gaming, food, beverage and hotel revenues.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

To further expand the resort's amenities, we introduced the Karma Nightcap and also welcomed Machique, an acclaimed attraction and show which performs on Saturday nights at our iconic celebrity showroom. We are continuing to work diligently on expanding our market share among both local and non local customers. We continue to scrutinize the resort's cost structure and marketing program, making significant progress toward the streamlined operation, and we look forward to upcoming events such as the RIP cook off, which will take place in late August and early September. Now some updates about our operations in Liberta, Canada and Poland, Europe. In Canada, slot coin in was up 6% and EBITDAR grew 2.8% from 5.4 to 5,600,000 year over year.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Almost half of the growth was driven by Century Casinos and Albert, which has been performing exceptionally well since the completion of the exterior modernization of the building in April. This came after the modernization of the interior of the building last year. We have other renovation projects across our Canadian portfolio that we expect to yield similar positive results. In Poland, the year over year comparison is not meaningful because the number of casinos in operation was not the same. Operational breaks have impacted the last quarters due to delays in license renewals.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

There is no license expiration scheduled until 2028, so no operational interruptions or downtimes are expected. We continue to successfully redirect guests from our recently closed casino at the Hylton to our flagship casino at the Presidential Hotel in Warsaw, previously known as the Warsaw Marriott. When the ramp up of the relocated Roslav Casino is well on track, we will open our second Roslav Casino in Q4 of this year, which will further strengthen our position in the Roslav market. In Q2, total revenue grew 23% year over year, resulting in a 306% increase in EBITDAR from $05,000,000 in 2024 to 1,800,000.0 in 2025. With the second part of the Hilton closing costs to be digested in Q3, we expect to return to normalized results starting in Q4 of this year.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

As Peter mentioned, we remain committed to divesting our Polish operations, and we provide further updates as appropriate. With that, back to you, Peter.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Thank you, Erwin. And we're moving on to cover a few balance sheet and capital items. I'm happy to report that we turned cash flow positive in the quarter. Our cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter were $85,500,000 compared to $84,700,000 at the end of Q1 and that includes $5,800,000 in CapEx and $1,000,000 we spent on the share buyback program. The total principal amount of debt outstanding was 338,100,000.0 resulting in net debt of $252,500,000 At the end of the quarter, our net debt to EBITDA ratio improved from 6.9 times three months ago to 6.2 times.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

On a lease adjusted basis, the ratio came down from 7.6 to 7.3, and we expect these ratios to go down further in the second half of the year. And let me also note that we have no debt maturities until 2029. The recent investments in our property portfolio are evident and our properties have never looked better. There's no need for significant CapEx this year or next. We expect to spend no more than $20,000,000 in total for growth and maintenance projects this year, of which we have spent $10,000,000 already in the first half.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

As predicted in our last earnings calls, the returns on our investments together with the reduction in CapEx this year and next produced meaningful improvements in free cash flow compared to last year. As we look ahead, we are confident in our business prospects. Last year was a transitory period for us, but now we see a clear path forward to higher EBITDAR and cash flow for 2025 and beyond. Now, it is all about harvesting what we have invested last year. We are encouraged by the recent trends in our business and while we recognize the level of economic uncertainty, we are more confident in the long term prospects of our company than we were at any point last year.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Since mid March, our unrated and lower tier database customers have returned to growth and that consumer strength continued into July. But a few months don't quite make a trend, we're cautiously optimistic about the outlook. We think that optimism will be further supported by the anticipated improvements in consumer sentiment and spending power from the One Big Beautiful Bill, specifically the benefit from no tax on tips, as well as an uplift from the increased deductions for seniors, considering seniors make up about a third of our customer base. It's also worth noting that we do not anticipate any new significant competitive supply impacting us this year and next. And we are not directly impacted by tariffs hardly at all.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

We just don't see it in our business. In our last earnings call, we announced the share buyback program and I'm happy to report that we repurchased 428,734 shares at an average price of $2.12 per share during Q2. We feel good about the direction of the business overall. We have a solid cash position of around $85,000,000 and believe CMTY is one of the best investments with high growth potential out there, and we are considering continuing the stock buyback program in the coming weeks if and when legally permitted. As you have seen in our earnings release, we have initiated a comprehensive strategic review of our operations, our capital structure, and our strategic growth options.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

The trigger for it was the high number of third party inquiries about potential asset sales and strategic partnerships we received over the last few months. We want to put all that into a structured process and see what's out there in terms of interest and possibilities. This proactive review will explore a range of potential strategic alternatives aimed at enhancing shareholder value and supporting long term growth. These alternatives may include opportunities to unlock value within our existing property portfolio, optimize the company's capital structure, evaluate potential mergers, strategic partnerships, or the sale of the entire company, and analyze potential divestments of assets or other asset level transactions. In connection with this process, we have engaged Macquarie Capital as well as the law firm of Flagred Drinker to assist in the evaluation.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

The strategic review follows our recent substantial CapEx program and solid operational performance and reflects the company's proactive approach to positioning it for future success in an evolving market landscape with a clear focus on optimizing shareholder value. At this stage, no decisions have been made and there can be no assurance that the review will result in any transaction or particular change. The company does not intend to make further public comments on the process unless and until the company's Board of Directors approves a specific course of action. With that, I ask for your understanding that we will not take questions on this topic in our Q and A session as we cannot share any incremental information at this time. All right, that concludes our prepared remarks.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

We'll now open the call for Q and A with the analysts. Operator, go ahead please.

Operator

At this time, we will open the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone keypad, and you'll be placed in the queue in the order received. You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing pound and one. If we do not get to your question, please please reach out to the company using the investor relations page at cnty.com. And our first question comes from Jeff Stanchil from Stifel. Please go ahead, Jeff.

Jeffrey Stantial
Managing Director - Gaming & Leisure at Stifel Institutional

Hey, good morning. Peter, Erwin, thanks for taking our questions. Maybe starting off on the East segment, at Rocky Gap, really strong margin performers that are in the quarter up year on year. I mean, Erwin, you talked about pretty significant weather disruption and with that, that usually comes high flow through and negative margin impact. So can you just unpack that a little bit further for us?

Jeffrey Stantial
Managing Director - Gaming & Leisure at Stifel Institutional

I guess, what's driving that improvement in margins? Where's the cost containment and cost improvement coming from? Just any extra color there would be helpful. Thanks.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Certainly. Thanks, Jeff. We first of all, we see that a little movement in the lower end. So we see some comeback of the lower end customers as we went into the end of the second and beginning of the third quarter. And secondly, we are now detailing in much more granular fashion our marketing strategy.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

We see more slot revenue, we see higher hotel revenue, particularly also higher cash hotel revenue, and a mix of the improved and more fine tuned marketing concept together with our also improved product. As you know, we have a very nice beach now there integrated in hotel leads to higher occupancy both in the hotel and the casino.

Jeffrey Stantial
Managing Director - Gaming & Leisure at Stifel Institutional

Great. That's helpful. Thank you for that color, Erwin. And then maybe shifting gears over to capital allocation. Peter, you repurchased $1,000,000 of stock during the quarter.

Jeffrey Stantial
Managing Director - Gaming & Leisure at Stifel Institutional

If I recall correctly, I believe Q1, you had mentioned potentially buying a slightly larger amount between Q1 and Q2 earnings. So if my memory is accurate there, is the shortfall, or the lower amount repurchase just attributable to blackouts? Or is there, sort of another reason maybe why you decided not to repurchase as much stock as initially expected? And then more thematically, looking forward, I'd love to just get your updated thoughts on allocating capital towards repurchases versus debt paydown, just given we seem to be in a bit of an interesting dynamic right now where, to your point, on rated and some of the regional fundamentals continue to improve or get better, but at the same time, of the macro data is starting to move in the wrong direction for the first time. So just any thoughts there would be great.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Peter?

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Yes. Indeed, we've aimed for a higher dollar amount. But we are doing the repurchases on the 10b5-one plan, and that has certain limits to it, volume limits, timing limits, and that resulted in basically us not having the opportunity to spend all the money that we have allocated for it. And, yeah, going forward, we'll balance between stock buybacks on a limited scale, and we're also looking at the interest rate environment and what you can do with the debt. Refinancing is, from our side, possible at any time.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

As soon as the window opens, we want to do that. And in terms of using a larger cash amount to to buy back our debt, the significance will kick in once we are talking about $10,000,000 20,000,000 $30,000,000 And so, I think that for that we for a larger investment into our terminal B, look for a positive outcome of our Poland divestment. And I think before that, we would probably not do a very large term loan B repurchase.

Jeffrey Stantial
Managing Director - Gaming & Leisure at Stifel Institutional

Understood. That's great. Very helpful. Thank you both. I'll pass it on.

Operator

And our next question comes from Ryan Sigdahl from Craig Hallum Capital. Please go ahead,

Will Yager
Equity Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Good morning. This is Will on for Ryan. Thanks for taking our questions. First, wanted to touch on Poland. You saw some nice year over year growth there.

Will Yager
Equity Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Is that just attributed kind of to the timing of licenses and openings? Or is that something we should see continue? And then on the divestment process there, is this a talk with a different party than you've been having discussions in? Or is it a new one? Thanks.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Peter?

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Yeah. I covered the divestment. It's with a new party. It is a new party.

Will Yager
Equity Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Great. And then

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

just And just on operational strengths sorry, yes.

Will Yager
Equity Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

No, yes. Go ahead.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Yes. Back to Erwin for that one.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Could you be so kind to repeat the operational question?

Will Yager
Equity Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Yes. Just in terms of your year over year growth in Poland, we saw a bit of an uptick here. Is that just a timing thing with the licenses and openings? Or what can that be attributed to?

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

When we had all licenses opened in the past, we made significantly higher both revenue and EBITDAR. And yes, it is true that it has to do with the fact that in the comparative Q2 of last year, we had less casinos open simply due to the fact because the licensing process got delayed. But what you start seeing now is the start of the comeback to the old numbers, which we hope we can start to re achieve again in Q4, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks.

Will Yager
Equity Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Great. And then my last one, just on the regional environment in general. It seems like we've been seeing a trade down at least among peers kind of maybe it's people staying home from Vegas, maybe it's just a trade down in general. But curious if you're seeing any of those benefits. It sounds like you are kind of in July and if we should expect those improvements to continue at your regional properties going forward. Thanks.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Yes, definitely. We saw it in June starting we saw it in July and it also continues in August. So we are between cautiously and normally optimistic about a change in the consumer sentiment, and that change was starting to show nicely in our revenues in the various sectors already.

Will Yager
Equity Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC

Thanks, guys.

Operator

And our next question comes from Chad Beynon from Macquarie Group. Please go ahead,

Chad Beynon
Chad Beynon
Managing Director, Analyst at Macquarie Group

Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Wanted to start with the West Region. In the prepared remarks, you talked about some of the items in Reno that were headwinds related to some of the conference calendar issues. It appears that the market grew pretty well in the second quarter.

Chad Beynon
Chad Beynon
Managing Director, Analyst at Macquarie Group

So can you just talk about how the outlook, maybe for the conference center, conferences, for concerts, kind of looks in the back half of the year? And if you think this will help you get back to some of the market share levels from prior years? Thanks.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Concerning the conferences, we think we're looking into the years '26, '27, '28. We are already and for the future years are confident that we can reach the previous level that was there before we took over. Concerning the year 2025, with the conferences there is really not much we can do. We can only take short term events. But typically, the conference planning has a lead time of two to three years.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

So this year will be less conference business than last year. Now in general, we are feeling good about the booking trends at the Nugget. Both comp and retail rooms for July were about 2% up, and that certainly marks a reversal from the declines in the second quarter. And looking at August, retail rooms are going to be significantly up. At the moment, we project something like 32% up, which is really encouraging.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

And on the side of the comp rooms, comp rooms are typically booked more last minute, but they also tend to follow the pattern of the retail rooms. So even also there, we think there is a good chance for a higher for better number center and upside. There's a lot of rate activity in the market, and we are adjusting pricing as required to gain market share and maximize our occupancy. In immediate future of this month, we are looking for the best in the West Nugget Rib Cook Off, which will take place from August 27 to September 1, largest event of the Nugget. Ticket sales for this year's RIPKUKHOP are promising.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

We're hoping to beat last year's revenues. With regards to the on the marketing side, we rolled out the new loyalty club at the start of the second quarter. And with that, we offer competitive point multipliers, tier level multipliers and then the additional food and beverage comp bucket in addition to the regular cash back. New marketing initiatives and rewards have been introduced to drive our competitiveness in the market, and we'll do more of that in the coming quarters.

Chad Beynon
Chad Beynon
Managing Director, Analyst at Macquarie Group

That's great detail. Thank you. And then on the big beautiful bill, Peter, you outlined some of the benefits for your consumers. But as it relates to Century, whether it's accelerated depreciation or lower cash taxes. Are you expecting any benefit this year or more importantly in 2026 and 2027 as the business grows and maybe the cash tax outflow could be greater, could you see a benefit from some of the changes that are being proposed? Thanks.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Peggy, can you help us there?

Margaret Stapleton
Margaret Stapleton
CFO at Century Casinos

Sure. Hi, Chad. So the big beautiful bill, you know, the depreciation does not really affect us nor does, is will there be major impact on cash taxes due to the fact that we have, deferred tax assets that we're still carrying forward. So, anything coming out of that bill will basically be offset by our losses that will that will be, utilizing.

Chad Beynon
Chad Beynon
Managing Director, Analyst at Macquarie Group

Okay, great. Thanks for clarifying that. Appreciate it all.

Operator

And our next question comes from Jordan Bender from Citizens Bank. Please go ahead, Jordan.

Jordan Bender
Senior Equity Research Analyst - Gaming & Leisure at Citizens Capital Markets and Advisory

Hi, everyone. Good morning. Thanks for the question. I want start in Canada. So, results returning to growth there, kind of beating our expectations.

Jordan Bender
Senior Equity Research Analyst - Gaming & Leisure at Citizens Capital Markets and Advisory

Yes, I know that's kind of a more of a local market, but are you seeing any strength or benefit from people not making trips into Las Vegas? I mean, that's been a pretty big topic among some of the strip players that Canadian travel is down. So are you seeing any of your players kind of staying closer to home, which is benefiting you? Thank you.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Thanks for the question, Jordan. I think we can it's hard for us to judge how people go less whether or not they go less to Vegas or not. But we certainly see, as we also indicated, that we have a larger reach now. So that is on the one hand due to our better capacity, better product, and better hotel rooms. But people that have not been coming before from 75, eighty, ninety miles are now coming.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

And it may well be that these people say, well, we'd rather sit in the car and drive as opposed to flying to Vegas.

Jordan Bender
Senior Equity Research Analyst - Gaming & Leisure at Citizens Capital Markets and Advisory

Great. And then just to maybe follow-up on sports betting in Missouri with BetMGM, nice agreement there. Is there any way to whether it's quantify the potential positive impact through revenue or conceptually just talk about what that means for your business once that agreement starts on December 1? Thank you.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Peter, do you want to talk about the economic impact that we're expecting? I could certainly mention that retail we do in Capsurado will be great for operations.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Yes. We haven't disclosed detailed numbers. It will be you remember in Colorado, we got close to $1,000,000 per license. It will be a little less in Missouri.

Jordan Bender
Senior Equity Research Analyst - Gaming & Leisure at Citizens Capital Markets and Advisory

Great. Thank you very much.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Thanks, John.

Operator

And our next question comes from Connor Parks from CBRE. Please go ahead,

Connor Parks
Connor Parks
Vice President at CBRE Group

Hey, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. Big picture one from me. You've mentioned in the past a path or at least a long term goal to reach $150,000,000 of EBITDAR in the past. Sitting here today, is this still a reasonable target now that we're a handful of quarters into seeing returns from recent CapEx in Missouri?

Connor Parks
Connor Parks
Vice President at CBRE Group

And I guess, ROI expectations changed at all in Missouri sitting here today versus a handful of quarters ago?

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

I would say, yes, the 150,000,000 is a reasonable target. Peter, would you like to add to that?

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Yes. What we need to I think our properties are in great shape of extensive CapEx program that we have done over the last eighteen months. So from that point of view, the properties, I think, can do the 150. We need the retail and lower end customer to come back, to continue to come back. And I think what goes a little bit hand in hand with that is some positive movement on the interest rate front because that certainly helps the retail and lower end customers.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

And if we have a little bit of help, a little bit of tailwind on that side, then our property portfolio is good for $150,000,000 EBITDAR.

Connor Parks
Connor Parks
Vice President at CBRE Group

Great. Thank you. And just one follow-up from me. Good color in Colorado on the two properties there. Maybe focusing in on Cripple Creek, newer competitor across the street.

Connor Parks
Connor Parks
Vice President at CBRE Group

Just thoughts on the overall impact to the market and specifically to your property there with the new entrants to that market. Thanks.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

Sure. Thanks for the question, Connor. We have We have seen that new competitor has been very helpful for our business. And I think we get some overflow business from them. As you know, we are exactly diagonally across the street and we see a good mutual fertilization, I might say.

Erwin Haitzmann
Erwin Haitzmann
Chairman & Co-CEO at Century Casinos

They have an excellent stake house and as you may know they have excellent rooms. And in spite of that, our room occupancy is basically most of it cash business and on the weekends we are typically sold out in spite of the fact that we only have less than 30 rooms and there are 300 rooms across the street. So this the advent of the new competitor of the Charmony has been nothing but good for us. And we're also in good communications with the management there. And we think that jointly looking into the future, they and us might think about ways to further develop that intersection of Bennett Avenue and Second, which interestingly in the past, in the 1900s, has been the center of Cripple Creek due to the fact that way Bennett goes all the way down from the east to that intersection and then goes up the hill on the west. So all looks good.

Connor Parks
Connor Parks
Vice President at CBRE Group

Helpful. Thanks for the color.

Operator

At this time, there are no further questions. I'd like to turn the call back over to our presenters for closing remarks.

Peter Hoetzinger
Peter Hoetzinger
Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President at Century Casinos

Very well. Thanks, everybody. We appreciate you joining our call today. We'll talk again in early November. Until then, thank you, and goodbye.

Operator

This does conclude today's Century Casinos Q2 twenty twenty five earnings call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Peter Hoetzinger
      Peter Hoetzinger
      Vice Chairman, Co-CEO & President
    • Erwin Haitzmann
      Erwin Haitzmann
      Chairman & Co-CEO
    • Margaret Stapleton
      Margaret Stapleton
      CFO
Analysts
    • Jeffrey Stantial
      Managing Director - Gaming & Leisure at Stifel Institutional
    • Will Yager
      Equity Research Analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC
    • Chad Beynon
      Managing Director, Analyst at Macquarie Group
    • Jordan Bender
      Senior Equity Research Analyst - Gaming & Leisure at Citizens Capital Markets and Advisory
    • Connor Parks
      Vice President at CBRE Group
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