Strat completes room renovations ahead of F1, Super Bowl

Golden Entertainment Inc., operator of the Strat and the PT’s Pub chain, saw second-quarter revenue and earnings decline mostly as a result of room renovations taking several Strat rooms offline during the quarter that ended June 30.

Executives with the company on Monday reported that work crews completed the renovation of 537 rooms and the resort’s pool deck to be certain that the property would be ready to accommodate thousands of visitors that will be in Las Vegas in November for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix race and February’s Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium.

Golden, which has the largest gaming tavern footprint in Nevada, opened one new branded Nevada gaming tavern in April, has six taverns under contract to be acquired and agreements for three greenfield development sites.

“Ongoing room and pool renovations at the Strat, which were completed at the end of June, negatively impacted second-quarter results,” Golden CEO Blake Sartini said in the call. “Despite weaker results from our casino resorts segment, our locals casinos continued their strong performance.”

In the earnings call with investors Monday, Sartini said the recently completed sale of the Rocky Gap Casino Resort in Maryland resulted in $175 million being devoted to company debt retirement and the payment of a $2-a-share dividend. In addition, the Golden board authorized a $100 million share buyback.

Charles Protell, Golden’s president and chief financial officer, told investors on the call that the dividend, payable Aug. 25 to shareholders of record Aug. 11, was a one-time payout that may not continue in future quarters.

Golden shares, traded on the Nasdaq exchange, were down 28 cents, 0.7 percent, to $42.34 a share on above-average volume.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter