Bally’s Q3 conference call panel:
- Soo Kim, Chairman
- Robeson Reeves, CEO
- George Papanier, President
- Marcus Glover, Executive VP and CFO
- Jaymin Patel, Vice Chairman of the Board
Bally’s land-based gaming
One of the biggest talking points during this quarter's financial report was the latest project to go live at Bally’s, the Bally’s Chicago Temporary Casino, which opened officially on 23 September.
The facility was opened as part of the wider plan to establish a player base in Chicago while the permanent casino is still in the planning phase - the $1.7bn development project is expected to begin construction in late 2024 and open in late 2026.
Until then, Bally’s hopes to extend current opening hours from 20 hours a day up to 24 hours a day, which is currently pending approval from the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB).
Bally’s went on to explain that the Temporary Casino received 155,000 visitors in the first 30 days of operations, even though there was no marketing material available.
The company hopes that this will only see a positive increase now that the IGB has granted it approval to distribute marketing material for the venue, including repeat visitations from customers holding Bally’s reward cards.
“We should continue to gradually benefit from the first full year of the smoking ban reversal in Shreveport, recall, revenue fell significantly when the ban was first implemented”
The other major project was the Ferry Links New York golf course, which was acquired from Donald Trump following a two-and-a-half-year legal battle.
While the full details could not be disclosed at this time, due to competition, Bally’s did confirm that Bally’s Golf Links at Ferry Point operates profitably in both EBITDA and cash flow perspectives.
Bally’s iGaming
Following the opening of its recent land-based casino, the second focus from the company seems to be its iGaming sector.
Most notably, the operator is highly anticipating launching its iGaming products in Rhode Island, where it will be the sole provider of online casino games.
After the Rhode Island iGaming Bill was passed on 22 June 2023, Bally’s announced that it would partner with Stakelogic for the supplier’s live casino games. The company now expects to launch in Rhode Island around March 2024; one month earlier than planned.
This wasn’t the only development in June, though, as this is when Bally’s also launched iGaming in Pennsylvania, with 10,000 unique monthly customers reportedly visiting the platform in Q3.
As for Canada, Bally’s explained that ‘Ontario remains an opportunity as we build our player base.’
This financial quarter also saw the rollout of Bally Bet in Ohio, Virginia, Arizona and Colorado, with retail launches in Shreveport, Biloxi, Vicksburg, Atlantic City and Black Hawk.
Bally Bet is expected to roll out into three undetermined states for the online platform and one retail location by the end of the year.
The Bally’s International Interactive Division also launched the branded Bally’s iCasino app in the UK.
“We believe that the Bally’s brand will drive revenue and profit growth and brand equity in the UK markets”
Bally’s Corporation
However, it wasn’t all good news today.
Bally’s Corporation saw a 18% fall in its share price on NYSE following the release of its Q3 report.
Commenting on this, the team at Bally’s put a positive spin on proceedings… “We’re aware of where the market is pricing us at the moment and it’s a very attractive price.”
“We will lose $60m in at the EBITDA level this year, $30m next year and expect to break even in 2025”
To account for the increased costs at the company, including the construction of the Permanent Chicago Casino, Bally’s announced that it had moved its iGaming and OSB teams and plans to further reduce its staff by around 300.
