Full House Resorts sees promising results for start of 2021

Full House Resorts Inc. is off to a strong start this year, the Las Vegas-based company said Monday.

The company reported $42.2 million in revenue during the first three months of the year, compared with $30.9 million during the same time last year and $40.5 million in 2019. Cuts in labor and marketing, as well as restructured operations, continue to drive down overall costs for the company, Chief Financial Officer Lewis Fanger told investors during an earnings call Monday.

Its Nevada operations — Stockman’s Casino in Fallon and Grand Lodge Casino at Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe in Incline Village — are its smallest casinos and the ones hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. But CEO Dan Lee is optimistic Northern Nevada is ready to rebound after “a pretty good quarter,” all things considered.

“I think as people get vaccinated, when people start traveling again, the Hyatt numbers will get better,” Lee said. “Hopefully local business — that is, the other half of our business there — will stay strong. And eventually the Navy will allow their people to leave (Naval Air Station Fallon), and that’ll be good for us.”

The company said it generated $4.4 million in Northern Nevada during the first quarter, up from the first quarter last year ($3.1 million) and in 2019 ($3.9 million). Net loss for the quarter was $3.4 million. Net loss was $4.4 million for the same period in 2020 and $1.6 million in 2019.

Restricted capacity for ski areas this winter as well as minimal meeting and convention business hampered Grand Lodge, Lee said. The Naval Air Station in Fallon has been locked down, hurting Stockman’s.

Churchill County, which is home to Fallon and the naval air station, “feels like it’s largely out of the woods with the pandemic,” Fanger said. “And so it feels like the restrictions on that base are probably going to start easing sooner versus later. And what we hear from the Hyatt over at Grand Lodge is that this could very well be a very robust summer season for them.”

“So while Nevada has lagged — knock on wood — there are hopefully some signs that we’ll start to see that go the other way in the next month or two.”

Full House has gaming operations in Mississippi, Colorado, Indiana and Nevada, and five currently operating sports betting “skins” in Colorado and Indiana. A little more than half of Full House’s first-quarter revenue derived from its Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, property, Silver Slipper Casino Hotel, the company reported.

Shares of Full House Resorts, traded as $FLL on the Nasdaq, closed Monday at $9.45.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.