Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority has heaped praise on its digital path to profitability, as the group’s reopened retail gaming network leads the group to a “strong performance” through the year’s second quarter.
For the three months ending June 30, 2021, the casino and entertainment operator recorded revenue of $417m, which represents a 27.1 per cent increase from the $328.18m recorded one year earlier.
This, said Mohegan, is due to the prior year period being negatively affected by various COVID-19 related restrictions at domestic properties as we as the closure of the MGE Niagara Resorts for the entire period, self-imposed capacity limitations at Mohegan Sun and state-mandated health protocols at most other venues.
Furthermore, revenue also benefited from upticks across all core reporting segment, with gaming; food and beverage; hotel; and retail, entertainment and other reaching $293.97m (2021: $241.29m), $39.62m (2021: $20.82m), $30.25m (2021: $22.18m), and $57.22m (2021: $43.88m) respectively.
Net income through the period increased 134 per cent year-on-year to $59.36m (2021: $25.36m), with adjusted EBITDA up 18 per cent to $120m (2021: $101.68m).
“Our consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $120m was the highest quarterly total in our 25-year history,” said Raymond Pineault, Chief Executive Officer of Mohegan.
“This was the first full fiscal quarter of operations without COVID-19 restrictions at MGE Niagara Resorts since the pandemic first closed the property in March of 2020, and Mohegan Digital continues to execute a strategy that is focused on profitability. These results reflect the success of Mohegan’s diversification strategies.”
Revenue at the company’s flagship Mohegan Sun increased 6.1 per cent to $236.46m (2021: $220m), driven by the reintroduction of non-gaming amenities that were not offered in the prior-year period. However, adjusted EBITDA dropped 8.1 per cent to $75.71m (2021: $82.42m).
Mohegan Sun Pocono also witnessed increased non-gaming revenue as well as a rise slot volume to generate $66.78m, up 6.1 per cent from 2021’s $62.93m, but heightened labour costs saw AEBITDA drop 2.6 per cent to $14.95m (2021: $15.35m).
Revenue and EBITDA at MGE Niagara casinos closed at $79.62m and $19.57m due to the enforced closure being in place for the entire prior-year period.
Carol Anderson, Chief Financial Officer of Mohegan, added “The consolidated Adjusted EBITDA margin of 28.8 per cent was 529 basis points higher than the pre-COVID comparable fiscal 2019 quarter.
“Compared to the fiscal 2021 quarter, the adjusted EBITDA margin has declined due to the continued reintroduction of some lower margin non-gaming amenities since the prior-year period.”
