Foxwoods reports decline in third-quarter earnings
Net revenues fall 3.3 percent
Mashantucket — Foxwoods Resort Casino has reported that its net revenues in the quarter ending June 30 totaled $209.2 million, down 3.3 percent over the same period the previous year.
Gross gaming revenues in the quarter were $177.2 million, a 3.1 percent decline, while gross nongaming revenues of $50.8 million were down 4.6 percent. Operating expenses were 3.2 percent lower, year-over-year.
During the quarter, a 2.1 percent increase in slot-machine revenue was offset by a 14 percent decline in table-games revenue.
Gaming accounted for 77.7 percent of the casino’s gross revenues, with the rest coming from three nongaming sources: food-and-beverage outlets (8.2 percent), hotels (7.6 percent) and retail, entertainment and “other” (6.5 percent).
Foxwoods posted its third-quarter report Friday on the website of the Electronic Municipal Markets Access system. Its fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.
The casino, owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, reported that its payroll costs in the quarter were $2.9 million, or 3.8 percent, lower than in the same quarter a year ago. On a year-to-date basis, the payroll has been trimmed by the equivalent of 219 full-time employees, the quarterly report says.
In the nine-month period that ended June 30, Foxwoods spent about $19.4 million on capital projects and maintenance, primarily for new slot machines, information technology upgrades and other improvements. Foxwoods expects to invest a total of about $30 million on capital expenses during the fiscal year.
Funding for tribal government was about $26.3 million during the first nine months of the fiscal year.
As of June 30, the tribe’s long-term debt totaled $1.85 billion. The Mashantuckets are operating under a forbearance agreement with senior lenders that extends to June 30, 2019.
Foxwoods’ chief rival, Mohegan Sun, reported last week that its net revenues for the quarter ending June 30 totaled $270.4 million. The Mashantuckets and the Mohegan Tribe, which owns Mohegan Sun, are partners in an effort to develop a commercial casino in East Windsor, where it would compete against MGM Springfield, a nearly $1 billion resort casino opening later this month in Massachusetts.