The US casino operator did, however, post a 43% rise in operating income to $123.7m, while adjusted EBITDA rose 6% to $166.7m.

Q1 results for Eldorado exclude the operations of Presque Isle Down and Casino, as well as Lady Luck Nemacolin, which were both purchased during the trading period.

Eldorado CEO Thomas Reeg said: "Eldorado’s results reflect our expanded, geographically diversified regional gaming platform and benefited from our unique operating initiatives.

"Growth was achieved despite significant weather disruption across the bulk of the portfolio in the 2019 first quarter."

Following reports linking Eldorado with a Caesars Entertainment merger, Reeg also addressed the topic of M & A – albeit vaguely.

Reeg said: "I’d note similar to our prior quarter call, we read the same newspaper you read, so we read the same rumours about what we might or might not be doing.

"We’re not going to comment on any particular potential transaction. We would reiterate if you see potential targets that may become available, which seem like they would fit our skill set, you should anticipate we would take a hard look."