MGM Resorts full-year revenue rises to $11.8bn; CEO criticises Wire Act revision
Financial Report
MGM Resorts International saw its consolidated net revenues grow by 9% in 2018, to $11.8bn.
However, Las Vegas Strip resorts net revenues decreased 1%, while regional operations net revenues increased by 8%, with MGM China net revenues rising 32%.
Consolidated operating income for the year was $1.5bn, a 13% decrease, and net income attributable to MGM Resorts was $467m, a drop of $1.5bn.
The operator announced a 1% rise in adjusted property EBITDA from last year’s $3.3bn.
During Q4, MGM Resorts recorded net revenues of $3.1bn, an 18% increase year-on-year.
Net loss attributed to the operator was $23m, compared to the net income of $1.4bn in Q4 2017.
Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International, said: “We had a strong finish to the year, driving growth across all Las Vegas segments in the fourth quarter. Our Las Vegas Strip Resorts achieved the best fourth quarter adjusted property EBITDA since 2007.”
Wire Act
At the end of MGM Resorts’ full-year and Q4 earnings conference call, Murren also addressed the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) recent reinterpretation of the Wire Act.
The MGM CEO was explicit in his response, saying: “[To say] this latest missive from the DoJ is perplexing is an understatement. It’s just, we think, an absurdly, poorly written and unenforceable opinion and I don’t think anyone in the industry, the gaming industry, the sports betting industry, feels any differently.
“If [it] reads as worded, it would mean Powerball, as it exists in 44 states in the US, isn’t legal anymore.”
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