Overnight in the States, there have been big stories coming out of Nevada, Boyd and Aristocrat.
Boyd
Firstly, Boyd Gaming announced its Q1 results, which saw year-on-year revenue fall $3.5m to $960.5m. Net income was also down, falling by $40.9m to $136.5m. These results, according to the operator, were due to strong competition in the Vegas segment. Downtown and midwest and south operations were also impacted, with Downtown impacted by lower pedestrian traffic and the midwest and south impacted by weather.
Boyd Gaming President and CEO Keith Smith called the quarter “a challenging start to the year,” though stated that “many of the positive trends from the fourth quarter continued into the new year.”
Nevada
The state of Nevada also released its financial results, showing that in March, the state made $1.29bn from gaming. This is a drop of 1.7% month-on-month and 2.2% year-on-year. Slot machine revenue declines may be in part responsible for this, having dropped 3.5%, while table game revenue grew 2.5%. It is also worth noting that the state hosted this year’s Super Bowl last month, which may have caused the spike in last month's revenue.
By calendar year, Nevada’s gaming revenue was up 3%, having generated $15.5bn since this time last year.
Aristocrat
While not reporting on its finances, Aristocrat reported that it had completed its acquisition of NeoGames parent company Neo Group for $1.2bn. The sale was first announced in May of last year and comes following regulatory approval given to the acquisition earlier this month.
NeoGames provides solutions for iGaming and iLottery services through various technologies and services. On the acquisition, NeoGames CEO Moti Malul said: “We are excited to have successfully closed this transaction and joined forces with the Aristocrat team to further drive our success across iLottery, iGaming and online sports betting. We firmly believe that this transaction represents a great outcome for all of Neo’s shareholders, customers and employees.”
