Two of the nation’s most prominent gaming CEOs addressed Wall Street analysts this week for the first time since President Donald Trump unveiled a series of unprecedented tariffs.
Trump unsettled global markets last month by imposing double-digit tariffs on the vast majority of the nation’s top trading partners. A sell-off on the major indices seeped into the gambling industry on April 3 when top names fell as much as 15 percent.
Since then, some investors have expressed trepidation that the trade policies will lead to recession, thereby negatively impacting the consumer’s wallet. A prolonged downturn could slow tourism activity in Las Vegas, adversely hampering foot traffic at leading casinos on the Strip.
Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg fielded numerous questions on tariffs April 29 during the company’s 2025 first-quarter earnings call. Reeg appears to have a viable plan in the face of intense macroeconomic pressures.
“If we were to start to see softness, we have levers that we can pull that you saw as we came out of the pandemic, where we were able to outperform peers in the market by tapping into our database,” he said. Reeg added that Caesars does “not see any of the consumer softness investors seem to be worried about.”
A day later, MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle also downplayed concerns regarding the global trade environment.
As it relates to tariffs, MGM has been focused on the near-term effects of sales and operational considerations, CFO Jonathan Halkyard explained. Thus far, he indicated that the impact has been quite small.
Both companies flourished with online sports betting operations over the quarter. Caesars Digital saw a 19 percent increase in net revenue ($335 million), while adjusted EBITDA jumped considerably to $45 million. BetMGM generated net revenue of $443 million, up 34 percent from the previous year’s quarter. Within the results, BetMGM increased online sports betting revenue 68 percent from the same period in 2024.
