Mohegan Sun’s quarterly revenues down 7 percent

Competitive impact of MGM Springfield continues to be less than expected

Mohegan — Mohegan Sun’s third-quarter net revenues were down 7.2 percent over the same period a year ago, the decline driven by gaming revenues, including unusually low table-games winnings, the casino’s parent company reported Thursday.

Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, which also owns Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and manages other properties, reported overall net revenues of $347.6 million in the quarter that ended June 30, a year-over-year increase of nearly 1 percent. The company’s adjusted earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization — a leading measure of performance in the casino industry — was up 7.5 percent.

Mohegan Sun’s net revenues totaled $251 million. Its adjusted EBITDA was down 17.7 percent.

On a conference call with investors, MGE officials said Mohegan Sun’s results show the competitive impact of MGM Springfield, the year-old western Massachusetts casino, continued to be less than expected. Encore Boston Harbor, a new casino in Everett, Mass., opened with 10 days left in the quarter but appeared to be having an impact consistent with expectations, said Michael Silberling, MGE’s senior vice president and chief operating officer.

MGE officials provided no information about ongoing gaming-ex

pansion talks between a partnership of the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes and the state. The talks involve sports betting, possible tribal involvement in a Bridgeport casino project and the tribal partnership’s plans to build a casino in East Windsor.

Mario Kontomerkos, MGE’s president chief executive officer, called attention to the company’s acquisition during the quarter of the so-called “Niagara Gaming Bundle,” which includes two casinos in Niagara Falls, Ontario. In addition, construction progressed at the site of MGE’s integrated resort in Incheon, South Korea, he said, setting the stage for “further earnings diversification.”

Also during the quarter, MGE introduced a new mobile application for its Mohegan Sun customers.

Dubbed “Mohegan Sun Beyond,” the new app, developed in a partnership with iPro Inc., offers free-play casino games and sportsbook and has the potential to deliver such hotel services as online booking and mobile check-in. If and when the state authorizes Mohegan Sun to provide mobile sports betting and online gaming, “It allows us to flip the switch to begin accepting real money wagers,” Kontomerkos said.