Enlarged Bally’s brings in $548.2m in Q1 revenue

The revenue was a rise of 185.1% from Q1 2021, which was before the completion of Bally’s £2.0bn merger with online gaming operator Gamesys, which closed in October 2021.

Gaming revenue amounted to $463.7m. This was an increase of 198.6% year-on-year.

Revenue from retail, entertainment and other revenue streams was $33.6m, just over triple the amount recorded in Q1 2021. Hotel revenue doubled year-on-year to $26.9m. Food and beverage revenue made up the remaining $23.9m, a rise of 54.7%.

“Our casinos and resorts results were strong as the US consumer returned to our properties as US Covid restrictions were lifted,” said Lee Fenton, CEO of Bally’s.

Breaking revenue down by business division, revenue from casinos and resorts made up $279.9m of the total. Fenton said that this was due to properties reopening after the pandemic.

Bally’s international interactive division – made up mostly of the legacy Gamesys business – recorded $253m in revenue, and the North America Interactive division reported $15.2m.

“International Interactive revenue was down 1% year over year on a constant currency basis due to tightened consumer spending in the UK that was offset by solid performance by our Asia business,” continued Fenton. “North America Interactive continued to invest in the rollout plan that accelerated this month with the launch of our foundational 2.0 tech stack in Arizona yesterday.”

Operating expenses amounted to $525.7m, 222.9% more than in Q1 2021. Gaming incurred the most costs, at $219.2m, a rise of 363.9%.

Advertising, general and administrative costs came to $181.6m, a rise of around $100m year-on-year. Depreciation and amortisation costs increased by $66m to $78.8m.

The remaining $46m consisted of hotel, food and beverage, retail and entertainment and other operating costs.

After expenses, the operating income totalled at $22.5m – down by 23.5% year-on-year.

Other costs affected this significantly. Interest expenses were $45.8m, a rise of 120.4%, while the cost of adjustment on bargain purchases was $107,000. There was no comparable figure for the latter cost.

However, other income, including interest income at $19.7m, offset this slightly.

This meant the operator made a pre-tax loss of $3.6m. After an income tax benefit of $5.5m, the net income for the quarter was $1.8m, $12.5m more than the Q1 2021 loss of $10.7m.

Earlier today, Bally’s dismissed investment firm Standard General’s proposed $2.07bn takeover of the company, which was submitted in January.