Boyd Gaming officials say young customers have played a role in propping up revenues during the Covid-19 pandemic.
During an earnings call last week, Boyd officials said the younger gaming customer segment in Las Vegas has returned robust revenues for the company during the Covid-19 crisis.
“The nature of the customers coming into the door hasn’t changed much over the last six months,” said Keith Smith, president and CEO of the company, according to the Las Vegas Sun. “It’s the younger demographic and the higher-worth segment.”
Josh Hirsberg, the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said he’s optimistic about 2021. “With the passage of time, we expect the participation from that older demographic to grow,” Hirsberg said. “It’s certainly understandable that we’re not seeing that today. With the passage of time, we expect people to feel more comfortable. It’s anybody’s guess when that will happen, but we expect that to improve over time. We expect to get the benefit of that.”
Also on the call, officials said online gaming has been a key revenue-generator during the pandemic. Smith said the company is generating “solid returns” from its online gaming operations, predominately mobile sports betting in partnership with FanDuel in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa. He said the cash flow from online sports betting contributed $10 million in 2020, and that the operator plans to launch an online casino in Pennsylvania in the coming months that could generate $20 million in cash flow in 2021.
“Online gaming is clearly a compelling growth opportunity for our industry and our company,” Smith said. “By partnering with a proven market leader like FanDuel to pursue these opportunities, we are generating immediate and growing profits from digital gaming today while maintaining flexibility to explore the many opportunities available to us to ensure that we are well-positioned for the future.
“Looking beyond this year, we see further potential from online gaming.”
Boyd Gaming lost $134.7 million in 2020, compared to net income of $157.6 million in 2019.
