New revenues from the Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort, Century Casino Cape Girardeau and Century Casino Caruthersville helped to almost double Q1 revenue for Century Casinos despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Revenue totaled $87.7 million compared to $45.6 million for the same period in 2019, an increase of 92 percent. Despite that impressive leap, Century projected more.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has had an adverse effect on the company’s first-quarter 2020 results of operations and financial condition, and we expect this situation will have an adverse impact on our second-quarter 2020 results,” the company stated.
“The company anticipates a phased approach to reopening (as) recommended by government officials in the jurisdictions where it operates, which could include reduced levels of gaming space, social distancing at slot machines and table games or reduced capacity within the casino, limited restaurant operating hours or continued closure of restaurants, requirements to wear face masks, including the potential to require guests to wear face masks, increased frequency of disinfecting surfaces and other measures to account for varying levels of demand.”
In a joint statement, co-CEOs Erwin Haitzmann and Peter Hoetzinger said, “During these unprecedented times, our primary focus is the health, safety and well-being of our team members, guests and communities,” said “Through the end of February, we were encouraged by the strength of our operations and the significant growth in net operating revenue and Adjusted EBITDA driven in part by our recent acquisition of properties in Missouri and West Virginia. We look forward to reopening our properties, and we plan to meet or exceed all safety requirements set forth by health officials.”
Hoetzinger added, “All of the closures are temporary, with the exception of the Casino in Bath, U.K. which remains permanently closed. In December of last year, we were in sale negotiations for the Bath Casino. However, in March, not surprisingly, the potential buyer terminated the negotiations. Due to the cancelled sale and the negative outlook, we determined that the best course of action would be to voluntarily wind up the Bath Casino Company. We signed a voluntary liquidation resolution last week and with that, no more losses from Bath will impact our results.
“Two days ago, we opened all eight casinos on Monday morning. Visitation was good and the social distancing and health and safety requirements didn’t seem to pose any real difficulties. Our guests were very understanding of the situation and very happy to be able to enjoy real gaming entertainment again after two months of closure. Before the closures, Poland contributed approximately 10 percent of our total consolidated EBITDA.”
“In West Virginia, the governor announced that effective May 14, horse racing may resume with no spectators allowed. The first race is scheduled for May 31. We will hold three races per week, all without on-site visitors. This will be very good for pari-mutuel horse betting handle and will help lowering the cash burn at that property.
“We expect to be able to open the gaming floor at Mountaineer on Friday, June 5. In Missouri, we should be allowed to reopen our two casinos in a couple of weeks in early June. That will be very good news for us because Missouri is our most important market in terms of EBITDA generation. As for the reopening of our casinos in Colorado, we are currently anticipating early-to-mid-June.
“And in Alberta, Canada, ADW Internet betting on horse races is generating some revenue already,” he said, “and we will also open the restaurants at some of our Canadian properties next week. That has already been approved and should generate not only S&P revenue, but also increase the betting action on horse races. Casino operations in Edmonton and Calgary will probably start sometime in the second half of June.”
