Strat sees ‘momentum’ at Atomic Golf, executive says
Months after a new golf entertainment venue opened near the Strip, a casino partner said it believes “momentum” will drive up business levels.
Atomic Golf, the 103-bay golf venue where customers play a game-ified version of a driving range, opened in March but quickly faced some public challenges. In May, it laid off at least 250 workers, citing worsening economic conditions.
On a second quarter earnings call for Golden Entertainment, the operators of the Strat and locals gaming spots in Southern Nevada, executives said the west-facing venue “got out of the gate slow” but there were signs of improvement since.
“It was a rough roll-out for them, learning the market, understanding their position in the market and so on,” Blake Sartini, Golden’s CEO and chairman, said in response to a question from Wall Street analysts. “Recently they have right-sized their staff, they have turned over their third-party marketing efforts to another firm, they’ve ramped up specialty events including group events, entertainment events and so on. All of that leading to, they are gaining momentum.”
At least one of those marketing efforts includes a weekly drone show on Thursdays.
Its success is important to Golden’s balance sheet. Located directly north of the Strat, Golden contributed 7 acres of undeveloped real estate to build the $75 million property and the business partners engage in a revenue sharing agreement.
Executives are also counting on cross-traffic between the two venues to drive business inside the resort-casino. Sartini said they believe there will be more business volume in the fall when the weather cools and more conventioneers visit the destination.
For the quarter that ended June 30, Las Vegas-based Golden Entertainment’s consolidated operations reported a net income of roughly $623,000 of net income, 2 cents a share, on $167.3 million in net revenue. The company said the 95 percent decline in net income is because previous year’s comparison period included results from now-divested businesses: Rocky Gap resort-casino in Maryland and its slot route operations. Chief Financial Officer Charles Protell said revenue declined 1.4 percent for continuing operations in Nevada casino-resorts.
Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.