CNTY

Image source: The Motley Fool. Friday, Aug. 7, 2026 at 10 a.m. ET Co-Chief Executive Officer - Peter Hoetzinger Co-Chief Executive Officer - Erwin Haitzmann Chief Financial Officer - Margaret Stapleton Executive VP of U.S. Operations - Lyle Randolph Operator: Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's Century Casinos Q2 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this call is being recorded, and I will be standing by you. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Peter Hoetzinger. Please go ahead, sir. Peter Hoetzinger: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our earnings call. First, we would like to remind everyone that we will be discussing forward-looking information under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ from those projected. Throughout our call, we refer to several non-GAAP financial measures, including, but not limited to, adjusted EBITDA. Reconciliations of our non-GAAP measures to the appropriate GAAP measures can be found in our news releases and SEC filings available in the Investors section of our website at cnty.com. With me today are my co-CEO, Erwin Haitzmann; our CFO, Margaret Stapleton; as well as our new Executive VP of U.S. Operations, Lyle Randolph. After our prepared remarks, we'll open the call for questions from analysts. I'm pleased to report that our diversified portfolio delivered a strong solid quarter as net operating revenue came in at $152 million, a 1% increase over Q2 of last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $31.7 million, a 5% increase. Both are all-time records for us. We've never had higher revenues and higher EBITDA in the second quarter in the history of the company. Congrats to all staff members and management teams at our properties. The results reflect the continued benefits of our diversified business model, the success of our recent capital investment program and growth in play across our casino portfolio. Poland spoiled the party a bit. That segment was underperforming due to the closure of the casino at the Hilton hotel in Warsaw as well as an unusually low hold on the gaming tables. But we are hopeful and already see signs for improved performance over the next several quarters. But moving away from Poland, I want you to focus on the North American operations, which had a great quarter and which generate around 90% of our total results. Going forward, the core operational metric that we will focus on will be U.S. plus Canada plus corporate. That EBITDA was up a strong 12% in Q2 and up 17% year-to-date. Every single property in our North American portfolio has grown revenue as well as EBITDA year-to-date with most properties growing EBITDA by double digits year-over-year. In more detail, in the second quarter, U.S. revenue and EBITDA were up 5% and 12%, respectively, and Canadian revenue and EBITDA were up 2% and 11%, respectively, Q-over-Q. Highlights of the quarter were the tremendous performance of the Nugget with revenue and EBITDA up 16% and 93%, respectively, as well as strong performances in both Missouri and Colorado. We continue to increase operating efficiencies throughout the business, delivering higher property operating margins than last year. The average margin of U.S. properties increased from 24% to 26%. In Canada, the margin grew from 28% to 30%. In the quarter, we benefited from growth across all and retail customers as well as from a predominantly local repeat customer base, our diversified portfolio and limited exposure to new supply. As mentioned in our last call, we've been seeing solid customer trends since around December of last year despite higher gas prices. In most of our properties, the majority of our customers live within a 45-minute drive and the overall economy, inflation and special employment are more impactful than gas prices alone. I would say we also benefit from guests staying closer to home and spending their dollars closer to home over the last several quarters as a result of the general economic factors, including high airfares and gas prices. And last but not least, we benefited from strong returns from the capital investments we made over the last 2-plus years. These investments have finally entered the contribution phase, contributing to meaningful EBITDA growth. With that, I'm very happy to introduce you to Lyle Randolph, our new Executive VP of U.S. Operations. Lyle will provide more granularity and background on our U.S. properties, which drive approximately 75% of our total revenue and EBITDA. Lyle, go ahead, please. Lyle Randolph: Thank you, Peter. Good morning, everyone. Across our U.S. operations, a clear pattern continues to emerge. We are seeing a portfolio that is performing with greater consistency. We are seeing operational improvements translating into stronger financial results. And most importantly, we're seeing the operational work of the past several years begin to pay off. Across our 7 U.S. properties, we have invested in our gaming floors, improved our marketing, strengthened our operations and remain focused on creating a better guest experience. None of this happened overnight, but those efforts are coming together and the second quarter provides another strong example. During Q2, our U.S. operations generated $111.6 million of net operating revenue, an increase of 5% over the prior year. Adjusted EBITDAR increased 12% to $28.9 million. Importantly, adjusted EBITDAR grew more than twice as fast as revenue, demonstrating continued operating leverage across the portfolio. And that momentum extends beyond the quarter. Through the first 6 months of 2026, U.S. net operating revenue increased 5%, while adjusted EBITDAR increased 16% over the first half of 2025. That is an increase of $7.2 million in adjusted EBITDAR in the first half of the year from the U.S. properties. And that consistency in growth is the real story. As we take a step back and look broadly across the portfolio, we're reminded that Century does not simply operate 7 casinos. We operate 7 unique destinations across 5 gaming jurisdictions, each with its own history, customer base and competitive position. Together, they represent an important piece of America's regional gaming heritage. From Rocky Gap, the only casino resort operating within a state park in America to Mountaineer, where the world's first resino pioneered a new chapter of regional gaming to the riverboat gaming history of Missouri, to Colorado's historic gold mining communities and finally, to the Nugget, one of Northern Nevada's iconic gaming brands. Each property brings something different. Our strategy is to preserve what makes each one unique while applying a disciplined operating approach that drives stronger and more consistent results. Beginning in the West, the Nugget continues to demonstrate why we believe it represents one of the greatest opportunities within our U.S. portfolio. Net operating revenue increased 16%, while adjusted EBITDAR increased more than 93%. And more importantly, this was just -- this was Nugget's third consecutive quarter of year-over-year adjusted EBITDAR growth. The Nugget had a strong entertainment calendar in the second quarter. The Brooks & Dunn concert in April sold more than 7,800 tickets and the Keith Urban show in June contributed to over $0.25 million in incremental profit. But the Nugget story is much broader than concerts. Slot coin-in increased approximately 6%. Hotel cash revenue increased more than 36%. Hotel occupancy increased 19% and year-to-date retail room nights reached a 3-year high. We are also making better use of the hotel during historically softer periods. Transient corporate room nights increased more than 300% during the quarter. And we continue to improve the casino itself through gaming floor optimization, stronger marketing, player development and a greater focus on the local customer. We are also seeing improvement in the quality of the business. The number of guests generating more than 400 in average daily theoretical increased approximately 20%. The Nugget is an iconic brand with a significant hotel and convention operation and includes a major entertainment venue. Our opportunity continues to be to make all of those pieces work better together. And the last 3 quarters of the Nugget tell us that the strategy is not only gaining traction, but we still believe there is still significant runway ahead. Moving on to the Midwest region. Our Missouri properties continue to be consistent performers. Our Missouri properties combined have now delivered 7 consecutive quarters of year-over-year adjusted EBITDAR growth. Combined net operating revenue increased over 8% in the second quarter combined. Adjusted EBITDAR increased 9.6% at Cape Girardeau and 5.5% at Caruthersville. Just as encouraging is the breadth of that growth. Across Missouri, theoretical win increased across all of our broader player segments. At Cape Girardeau, we continue to see the benefits of improving an established property and becoming more sophisticated in how we engage with our customers. The Riverview Hotel, our food and beverage amenities, our event center, our retail BetMGM Sportsbook provide additional reasons to visit and more opportunities to extend the customer relationship beyond the casino floor. At Caruthersville, the story is the continued maturing of our investment in that market. Second quarter net operating revenue increased nearly $1.2 million, rated gaming revenue increased 32% and unique guests increased 9%. More importantly, unique guests traveling more than 50 miles increased 15%. That tells us that the new property is not simply serving the existing local customer, it is expanding Caruthersville's geographic reach. During the quarter, Caruthersville generated its highest quarterly gross gaming revenue, net revenue, coin-in and slot win in the property's history. And the performance stands out beyond just our own portfolio. For Missouri's fiscal year reported by the Missouri Gaming Commission ending in June, Caruthersville recorded the highest percentage increase in adjusted gross revenue among all 13 casinos in the state. Collectively, Century's Missouri operations also generated the highest year-over-year percentage growth in gaming revenue of any casino operator in the state. So we remain very encouraged by the underlying strength of our Midwest region and the continued maturing of our Caruthersville investment. Let's shift now to -- over to the East region with Rocky Gap. Rocky Gap delivered a resilient second quarter despite a more challenging competitive and consumer environment. There were several encouraging underlying trends. Slot coin-in increased approximately 2%, golf cash revenue increased nearly 13% and hotel room nights increased. Net operating revenue was down slightly less than 1%, with essentially all of that decline concentrated in the hotel cash revenue and table games. Importantly, disciplined expense management helped offset those pressures and adjusted EBITDA essentially remained flat. That performance is notable given softer regional gaming trends and the April opening of Happy Valley Casino in State College, Pennsylvania. And we are also reminded that through the first half of the year, Rocky Gap's adjusted EBITDAR remained 9% ahead of prior year. We remain encouraged by the resilience of the business, and we'll continue leveraging Rocky Gap's unique position as a true destination resort. Also in our East region, Mountaineer remains one of the foundational assets within our U.S. portfolio. Once again, this quarter, Mountaineer generated the highest gaming revenue of any property in our company. This reflects the strength of its long-standing customer base in the market. And that market surrounding Mountaineer continues to evolve. Customers today have more gaming options than ever before, including online gaming and mature casino and sports wagering locations. Importantly, these developments do not suggest that demand for gaming has weakened, rather they reinforce that the way guests choose to engage with gaming and entertainment continues to change. We believe that creates an opportunity to deliver the experiences guests cannot replicate elsewhere. Mountaineer's combination of casino gaming, live horse racing, hotel, dinner and entertainment options provide a unique platform to compete in this changing environment. In quarter 2, Mountaineer saw growth in sports betting and iGaming and horse racing revenue increased nearly 40%. At the same time, slots, tables and hotel revenue were slightly softer. There were some encouraging customer trends. Gaming revenue from our highest value 400-plus ADT customers increased 7% and revenue from younger customers, 21 to 39 increased 31%. The hotel comparison also requires some context. Last year, second quarter benefited from a large construction group that contributed nearly $0.5 million of business before those days ended in June of 2025. Adjusting for that group, second quarter profitability would have been approximately flat with prior year. Again, through the first half of 2026, Mountaineer adjusted EBITDAR still remains 6% ahead of last year. Mountaineer provides opportunity as it also has the largest active customer database in our company, which provides a significant tool as we continue refining segmentation, reinvestment and player development. And the property's racing heritage remains an important differentiator. This year marks the 75th year of horse racing at Mountaineer. This weekend is the 56th running of the West Virginia Derby. Our focus is to build upon that heritage while creating gaming, entertainment and hospitality experiences that give customers compelling reasons to visit the property. Moving to Colorado. We see encouraging momentum. Central City delivered one of the strongest performances in the U.S. portfolio. Net operating revenue increased approximately 11.5%, while adjusted EBITDAR increased more than 32%. Guest volume increased 16%, coin-in increased nearly 20% and hotel occupancy reached 74%. Through the first half of 2026, Central City nearly doubled adjusted EBITDAR compared with the prior year. The quality of that growth is also encouraging. We saw improvement across carded and non-carded play, while marketing expenses declined as we shifted toward more targeted detailed initiatives. So Central City is not simply generating more revenue, we are becoming more efficient in how we generate it. At Cripple Creek, net operating revenue increased 2% and adjusted EBITDAR for the first 6 months is well ahead of last year. We also saw growth in both rated and unrated play and an increase in unique carded guests. Looking forward, we remain optimistic about both markets. In Central City, continued public investment in the Gregory Plaza in the historic district leading up to the Hill to Central City should create additional reasons for visitors to explore beyond Black Hawk's primary casino corridor. And in Cripple Creek, we continue to view the evolution of Chamonix as an opportunity in both the short and long term. As Chamonix continues refining its operations and guest experience, Century remains well positioned to compete for guests seeking a convenient and established alternative. Looking further ahead, we believe that a successful destination resort directly across the street has the potential to increase overall visitation to Cripple Creek, creating a larger and more vibrant market from which Century is in a great position to benefit. Taken together, our Colorado properties continue to illustrate an important element of Century's operating philosophy. While we cannot always control how our markets evolve, we can control how effectively we position ourselves to benefit from that evolution. As we look at all of our U.S. operations, what encourages us the most is not any single property, it is the consistency of the progress. Missouri continues its sustained quarter-over-quarter growth. Colorado continues to build momentum. The Nugget has now delivered 3 consecutive quarters of adjusted EBITDAR growth. And in our East region, we continue to protect profitability and build upon the unique strengths of those properties. Taken together, we believe this represents something larger than a single successful quarter. The operational foundation we have been building is producing more consistent, higher-quality results. Again, through the first half of 2026, net operating revenue at our U.S. properties increased approximately 5% and adjusted EBITDAR increased nearly 16%. This is not the result of any one promotion, entertainment, event or favorable comparison. It is the result of hundreds of operational decisions being made every day across 7 properties by teams that understand their markets. Looking ahead, our priorities remain clear. We will invest where we see the strongest returns. We will continue improving gaming floor productivity and becoming more sophisticated in how we engage our customers. We will maximize the value of our hotels, entertainment and other amenities. And importantly, we will continue sharing what works across the organization. We are building one operating philosophy around 7 authentic regional destinations. Each has its own history, each has its own competitive advantages. Our responsibility is to preserve what makes them unique while applying the operating discipline that can make each of them stronger. We remain confident that our U.S. operations are well positioned to deliver profitable growth, disciplined returns and long-term value for our shareholders. Thank you. Erwin Haitzmann: All right. Thank you, Lyle, and I will now give more color on Canada and Poland, our international operations. Century Casino's Canadian operations delivered another solid quarter with net operating revenue increasing 2.2% year-over-year to $20.4 million and adjusted EBITDA increasing 11% to $6.2 million. This performance reflects the results of the capital investments and operational improvements we have made in Canada over the last several quarters. Growth was broad-based with all 4 Alberta properties contributing higher net operating revenue, led by strong performances at Century Mile and Century St. Albert. Century Mile achieved its highest quarterly EBITDA since opening, surpassing its previous record established in the first quarter, while Century St. Albert delivered record coin-in during both May and June, following the benefits of its 2025 property enhancements. We also demonstrated expense discipline as total operating expenses declined 1.3%, driven primarily by lower payroll costs. Operationally, the Alberta portfolio continues to benefit from growing customer awareness of the newly introduced Celly's Sports Bar & Lounge concept while market share trends remain encouraging. Century Mile significantly outpaced overall Edmonton market growth with coin-in increasing 11.2% year-over-year and Century St. Albert also exceeded the broader market with 6.2% growth. Looking ahead, management is focused on leveraging Alberta's newly launched open online sports betting and iGaming market by utilizing upgraded sportsbook-ready facilities across all 4 properties while monitoring any long-term impact on visitation and gaming revenue. The company also continues to defend its competitive position in the Edmonton market following the court decision requiring the proposed Camrose Casino relocation process to restart, delaying a potential new competitor near Century Mile. With continued investment in player development, disciplined capital spending and favorable competitive dynamics, the Canadian operations remain well positioned to build on their strong first half performance. Poland. Century Casinos operation in Poland continued through a period of significant portfolio transition during the second quarter, making year-over-year comparisons less meaningful. Results reflect the closure of the Hilton Warsaw Casino in June 2025, following the nonrenewal of its gaming license as well as the continued ramp-up of the company's Wroclaw's operations. The newly opened Wroclaw Casino, which began operations in February 2026 in the historic Hotel Corona overlooking Wroclaw's renowned Market Square, generated expected start-up losses as the property builds awareness and establishes its customer base. Wroclaw is Poland's fourth largest city and one of the country's fastest-growing economic centers, recognized for its thriving technology sector, major universities and vibrant tourism industry. Although start-up costs weighed on second quarter results, management believes this flagship location represents an attractive long-term opportunity as visitation and customer awareness continue to build. In addition, table game hold at the presidential Warsaw Casino was significantly below historical averages during June, reducing gaming revenue by approximately $1 million versus theoretical expectations. These factors contributed to the reported net operating revenue of $19.9 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $0.1 million for the quarter. Despite these temporary headwinds, the underlying outlook for the Polish business is increasingly stable. Prior year comparisons were also affected by approximately $450,000 of onetime adjusted EBITDA add-backs recorded in the second quarter of 2025, consisting of preopening costs and expenses related to the Hilton Warsaw closure, further reducing comparability between periods. More importantly, Century has now completed the transition of its portfolio with no gaming license expirations scheduled over the next 2 years. Now back to you, Peter. Peter Hoetzinger: Thank you, Erwin. And I'll now go over some balance sheet items and share our outlook for the rest of the year with you. Our cash and cash equivalents as of June 30 were $60.2 million, up slightly from the first quarter. During Q2, we invested $3.1 million in CapEx, primarily on gaming equipment, bringing year-to-date CapEx to $5.7 million. For the second half of the year, the CapEx forecast is approximately $9.5 million, resulting in total CapEx for 2026 of about $15 million. Total debt outstanding was $336.5 million, resulting in net debt of $276.3 million, a small improvement over the previous quarter. At the end of the quarter, our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio improved to 6.5x, which excludes the onetime deferred rent [indiscernible], which we paid off earlier this year. We now expect that ratio to further reduce to well below 6x by the end of the year. We are now heading into our strongest cash flow quarter and are seeing positive indications that the business is on the right track to more manageable levels of leverage. And as liquidity improves, we look for opportunities to reduce our debt balances. I'd also like to note that we have no debt maturities for 3 years from now, that is until Q2 of 2029. As mentioned in previous earnings calls, 2026 is a year of execution and harvesting for us, and we're off to a good start. I would say that July seems very much like another month with double-digit EBITDA growth, which is great. Across the board, we're actually feeling really good for the remainder of the year. Even Poland had a much better July, generating almost as much EBITDA in the month as it did in the entire first half of the year. The regional consumer has been remarkably resilient through the noise that we've seen in the last couple of quarters. Regional and local business is solid. We expect to continue to benefit from strong improvements and performances at the Nugget as well as in Colorado and from the continued ramp of the new land-based facility in Caruthersville. Cash flow-wise, in addition to higher EBITDA, we expect to benefit from decreasing CapEx. Whilst we spent a total of $18 million last year, we expect that to come down to around $15 million this year. As things move forward, we remain focused on improving our free cash flow generation by optimizing our corporate overhead and remaining disciplined with our capital. So in all, we are pleased with our second quarter performance, which was driven by our diversified business model, broad-based growth in play from our core customers and the success of our recent capital investments. This concludes our remarks, and we are now ready to take questions from analysts. Operator, go ahead, please. Operator: [Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Jeff Stantial of Stifel. Jeffrey Stantial: Maybe starting off in the U.S. and specifically in Missouri, really strong quarter here. Curious just how much you think this has been driven or helped by the February ruling on skill gains and enforcement that seem to start, call it, late Q1, early Q2. And then moving forward, if this has been a big tailwind for those assets, how do you think about this moving forward just based on your read of how many machines that are -- were previously in the state have been rendered inactive and sort of the pace of enforcement going forward? Erwin Haitzmann: Okay. Thanks for the question, Jeff. Lyle, why don't you take that, please? Lyle Randolph: Yes, absolutely. Obviously, we're very excited about the action that the Missouri Attorney General took this spring and with the ruling regarding these illegal games in the state. And so we do think that there's positive impact. In Q2, those impacts were likely kind of spread toward the -- closer to the end of the quarter as we still saw locally, especially still locations that had those games. And in fact, we still see some of those. So we think that there's still continued improvement with the enforcement that we may even see additional opportunity as Missouri begins to enforce the law and get those illegal games out of these locations. Operator: And our next question comes from Jordan Bender of Citizens. Jordan Bender: Lyle, welcome. And I actually want to maybe start with you, and you ran through a lot of comments and a very comprehensive kind of overview of the portfolio. In the couple of months that you've been here, I guess, can you just talk about any of the low-hanging fruit that you think can immediately be addressed to help -- the assets seem to be performing pretty well. But are there any kind of low-hanging fruit to help these assets perform even better that you can see over the last couple of months? Lyle Randolph: As I mentioned, there were -- a lot of the groundwork has been set, but certainly, one of the keys is that we want to ensure that our slot floors are maximized for each of the markets. One of the things we're seeing is that the slot customer is changing. Today, a customer makes a game on social media. They may watch an influencer playing it and they come in, they expect to find that game. And we want to be competitive in that environment. That means getting newer games and product on the floor, whether that's conversions, just making sure we're utilizing our leased product as best we can. We're going to be very careful about how we do that. We just want to maximize our return on that investment. We may not, in some of our markets, have -- be able to compete with the newest building or -- but what we can do is we can compete on the quality of the gaming experience in those gaming floors. So to me, that's the key piece. And that's what the rest of the business will revolve around, right? The making sure that we have the games people want to play, the slot floor is optimized and then all the other pieces start to come together, then we can start driving database marketing and pushing those people in to give us another try. I mean there's large opportunities within the -- within our inactive and really those -- that deep inactive to get people back to these properties and to show them the improvements that we've made. So again, I think there's -- I see opportunity really across the portfolio. Jordan Bender: That was great. And then maybe on the follow-up or just in general, Alberta online gaming just launched a couple of weeks ago. Are you guys seeing any cannibalization from your properties for people who are now just playing iCasino online? Erwin Haitzmann: Thanks for the question. No, we don't. Maybe it's too early, but maybe it's not happening at all. It may well be that it's a neutral fertilization to an extent. Operator: And our next question comes from Chad Beynon of Macquarie Group. Aaron Lee: This is Aaron on for Chad. Nice results in the Nugget again this quarter. It looks like everything is coming together really nicely there. Can you just remind us what operational initiatives, if any, remain unfinished at that property? And how much incremental EBITDA opportunity you believe remains over the next, let's say, 12 to 24 months? Erwin Haitzmann: Yes. Great question, Chad. It's a question we asked ourselves, and we can give you a detailed answer. And again, Lyle, why don't you take it and guide Chad through what we've mapped out? Lyle Randolph: Yes. I think that -- I mean we -- these initiatives are ongoing, and we're seeing the results of those each week. And as we see the results coming in, we're continuing to see where we've made adjustments, and we're seeing the positive results from that. With that being said, we still think that there's a lot of ramp-up and a lot of opportunity as we move forward. And we're going to try to get to that. We're going to try to, again, as was previously mentioned, look for that -- the lowest hanging fruit and try to adjust those things. The things we can move quickly are the -- making sure that, obviously, expenses that we're controlling those pieces. But again, driving additional gaming revenue that's going to flow quickly and again, making sure that our database marketing and our marketing efforts in general are focused on driving the right things. If you would go out to the nugget and you would see I mean these entertainment events, all the different things that we had the 4th of July celebration that brought 10,000 people to the property around our facility. Those things are bringing people and the market is there. Again, we just have to make sure we're prepared to maximize the revenue and the profitability as we bring those folks in, and that's what we're going to be focused on. Aaron Lee: Great. That's perfect. And then maybe one on Poland. Can you just give us some more color on the signs of improvement that you mentioned in that market and how we should be thinking about the balance of the year as Wroclaw ramps? Erwin Haitzmann: Yes. That's harder to predict. But by experience, we know every time we open a new location, there's a certain ramp-up time, and we see that now with the Wroclaw Casino as well. So we hope that in the second quarter, this new second Wroclaw Casino will ramp up to the full capacity. And other than that, it's really -- we've just been rattled with these changes in the licensing. So that is now more quiet. It's stable. As we said earlier, we don't have any new licenses coming up during the next 2 years. So whilst it's hard to predict, we are positive that all the various elements that we had will come back together again soon. Operator: And our next question comes from Ryan Sigdahl of Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Ryan Sigdahl: Welcome, Lyle, to the call. Lyle, you mentioned theoretical win increased across several of the properties. I guess I know slot optimization you mentioned. But I guess curious given fairly known casino floor win -- theoretical wins, I guess, what's the driving force there? Erwin Haitzmann: We absolutely have seen the improved player. I think part of -- most of that is really driven in 2 aspects. Again, we're making sure that we have the slot product that people want to play on the floor, particularly those higher-value customers and then marking to them in the right way. And so those 2 pieces, and again, we see that across multiple properties, even in some properties where we may have a little bit of decline in some of the lower segments, all of our properties saw that higher ADT customer improve. And again, I think that's what you're going to see as we continue to work to make sure that we've optimized the slot floor and then really trying to go out and we have to then tell the people, tell those customers that maybe have not visited in a while, here's the reason to come back. Ryan Sigdahl: And then maybe for Peter, Erwin. Poland, historically, I thought of this as kind of a $10 million a year EBITDA business. I know several negative moving pieces in Q2 that sound like they've improved in July. But I guess, is that still the right assumption? Or how should we think about that business? Or how do you think about it on a go-forward basis? Erwin Haitzmann: I'm hesitant to predict, Peter, how do you feel about it. I mean the elements are there to come back to the $10 million, but it's hard to say how and how quickly. Peter Hoetzinger: Yes. I would say also that the table hold has normalized since June. That's also the July results. But overall, I think $10 million was really the upper range that we saw over the last, say, 5, 6, 7 years. I think we had it right after COVID. But the normalized number is more around $8 million, I would say. And as you know, we own 2/3 of it. Operator: [Operator Instructions] And our next question comes from Connor Parks of CBRE. Connor Parks: With all the major properties performing well, another quarter of solid growth here and free cash flow turning a quarter, how has this impacted the portfolio sale discussions and M&A conversation, if at all? And then I guess somewhat related to that, my usual question on the term loan, where are we kind of in the review process? And what are the puts and takes of how you are thinking about the deleveraging discussion? Erwin Haitzmann: Okay. Peter, can you take that, please? Peter Hoetzinger: Yes, happy to. In terms of the sales process, as you know, over the last about 3 quarters or so, we have looked very hard at that. And given the diverse nature of our portfolio, we've explored a number of different avenues to unlock value. And we are currently focused on monetizing our international operations to become a fully U.S.-centric company and reduce leverage. We make progress on these initiatives slowly but surely. Poland is the more difficult one with the war next door and that challenging regulatory environment. Currently, 2 groups are in due diligence works. We have not given exclusivity to anybody. So let's see what the outcome there is. We should get more clarity in a couple of months, but very hard to say. And in Canada, we have 2 packages. I mean we could sell all 4 together or we go the direction of selling the 2 resino in 1 package and the 2 commercial casinos in another package. There's interest for both. And again, one is a little bit more ahead than the other. I think that at least for one of those packages, we should be able to publicly disclose something before the end of the year. And that impacts the Term Loan B paydown because with our current cash position, yes, we have some free available, but we'd rather wait until we have more clarity on the asset sales and then we can make a meaningful pay down. Also, we are in discussion with our lenders to get more flexibility. So this is all ongoing, and that's all I can comment on. We continue to make progress on all these initiatives, and we'll update the market when we have definitive transactions to announce. Connor Parks: Great. I really appreciate the color there. And then maybe just last one for me. To ask the Alberta iGaming and sports betting question the other way, is there any opportunity in Alberta to be able to partner with any of these operators that have entered the market? Or is there a potential for new customers coming into the casinos as they're exposed to iGaming opportunities or anything of that sort? Erwin Haitzmann: I wouldn't see anything... Peter Hoetzinger: For the sportsbook, that's a possibility for our retail sportsbook. Not so much for, I would agree with Erwin. And it also depends on how those sales negotiations are developing because some interested parties have their own goals or ways of handling that and some not. So we -- at the moment, we play it by year. Some of those sports betting companies have knocked on our doors, and we are in, let's say, early stage talks again because we want to wait and see what those sales processes bring. Operator: And that is all the time we have for today. If we did not get to your question, please reach out to the company using the Investor Relations page at cnty.com. I will now turn the call back to Mr. Hoetzinger for closing remarks. Peter Hoetzinger: I thank everybody, and we appreciate you joining our call today. We'll talk again in early November to discuss the results of the third quarter. Until then, thanks a lot, and goodbye. Operator: Thank you. This does conclude today's Century Casinos Q2 2026 Earnings Call. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time. Before you buy stock in Century Casinos, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Century Casinos wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. 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As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Century Casinos (CNTY) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Net Operating Revenue: $152 million, a 1% increase year-over-year, an all-time record for the second quarter. Adjusted EBITDAR: $31.7 million, a 5% increase year-over-year, an all-time record for the second quarter. US Operations Revenue: $111.6 million, up 5% year-over-year. US Adjusted EBITDAR: $28.9 million, up 12% year-over-year. US Property Operating Margins: Increased from 24% to 26%. Canada Net Operating Revenue: $20.4 million, up 2.2% year-over-year. Canada Adjusted EBITDAR: $6.2 million, up 11% year-over-year. Canada Property Operating Margins: Increased from 28% to 30%. Poland Net Operating Revenue: $19.9 million for the quarter. Poland Adjusted EBITDAR: Approximately $0.1 million for the quarter. Nugget Revenue: Increased 16% year-over-year. Nugget Adjusted EBITDAR: Increased more than 93% year-over-year. Missouri Combined Net Operating Revenue: Increased over 8% in the second quarter. Missouri Adjusted EBITDAR: Increased 9.6% at Cape Girardeau and 5.5% at Caruthersville. Central City Net Operating Revenue: Increased approximately 11.5%. Central City Adjusted EBITDAR: Increased more than 32%. Cripple Creek Net Operating Revenue: Increased 2%. Rocky Gap Net Operating Revenue: Down slightly less than 1%. CapEx: $3.1 million in Q2, bringing year-to-date CapEx to $5.7 million; full-year 2026 forecast of approximately $15 million. Cash and Cash Equivalents: $60.2 million as of June 30. Total Debt Outstanding: $346.5 million. Net Debt: $276.3 million. Net Debt-to-EBITDA Ratio: Improved to 6.5 times. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 8 Warning Signs with CNTY. Is CNTY fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: August 07, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Century Casinos Inc (NASDAQ:CNTY) achieved all-time record Q2 net operating revenue of $152 million and adjusted EBITDAR of $31.7 million, up 1% and 5% year-over-year, respectively. North American operations (US and Canada) delivered strong growth, with EBITDAR up 12% in Q2 and 17% year-to-date, driven by double-digit EBITDAR growth at most properties. The Nugget property had a standout quarter with revenue and EBITDAR up 16% and 93%, respectively, marking its third consecutive quarter of year-over-year EBITDAR growth. Missouri properties delivered seven consecutive quarters of year-over-year adjusted EBITDAR growth, with Caruthersville achieving its highest quarterly gross gaming revenue, net revenue, coin-in, and slot win in property history. The company is making progress on deleveraging, with net debt-to-EBITDA improving to 6.5 times and expected to fall below 6 times by year-end, while also exploring strategic sales of international operations to unlock value. July showed continued momentum with double-digit EBITDAR growth, and Poland generated nearly as much EBITDA in July as it did in the entire first half of the year, indicating a recovery in that segment. Poland's performance was weak due to the closure of the Hilton Warsaw Casino and an unusually low hold on gaming tables, leading to adjusted EBITDAR of only approximately $0.1 million for the quarter. The newly opened Wroc?aw Casino in Poland generated expected startup losses as it builds awareness and establishes its customer base, weighing on Q2 results. Rocky Gap faced a challenging competitive environment with the April opening of Happy Valley Casino in Pennsylvania, leading to a slight decline in net operating revenue. Mountaineer's hotel revenue was negatively impacted by the loss of a large construction group that contributed nearly $500,000 in business in the prior year quarter. The company's high net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 6.5 times remains elevated, and the deleveraging process is dependent on the successful sale of international assets, which is uncertain and may take time. The launch of Alberta's open online sports betting and iGaming market poses a potential long-term risk of cannibalization to the company's Canadian properties, though no immediate impact has been observed. Q: This morning, with all the major properties performing well, another quarter of solid growth here and free cash flows turning in quarter, how has this impacted the portfolio sale discussions and M&A conversation, if at all? And then I guess somewhat related to that, my usual question on the term loan, where are we in the review process and, where are the puts and takes of how you are thinking about the deleveraging discussion? A: Peter Hoetzinger (President & Co-CEO): In terms of the sales process, it's an over the last about three quarters or so we worked very hard at that. And given the diverse nature of our portfolio, we've explored a number of different avenues to unlock value. And we're currently focused on monetizing our international operations to become a fully US-entry company and we use leverage. We make congress on these initiatives. Slowly but surely. Poland is the more difficult one with the one next door and that changing regulatory environment. Apparently, two groups are in due diligence works. We've not given exclusivity to anybody, so let's see what the outcome varies. We should get more clarity in a couple of months. Very hard to say. And in Canada, we have two packages. We could sell all four together or we go the direction of selling the two racinos in one package and the two commercial casinos in another package. There's interest for both. And again, one is a little bit more ahead than the other. Think that at least for one of those packages, we should be able to publicly disclose something before the end of the year. And that impacts the term loan B pay down because with our current cash position. Yes, we have some freely available, but we'd rather wait until we have more clarity on the estate sales and then you can make a meaningful pay down. Also, we are in discussion with our lenders to get more flexibility. Q: Nice results from the Nugget again this quarter. Looks like everything's coming together really nicely there. Can you just remind us what operational initiatives, if any, remain unfinished at that property? And how much incremental EBITDAR opportunity you believe remains over the next, let's say, 12 to 24 months? A: Lyle Randolph (Executive VP of US Operations): I think that, I mean, these initiatives are ongoing and we're seeing the results of those each week. And as we see the results coming in, we're continuing to see where we've made adjustments and we're seeing the positive results from that. With that being said, we still think that there's a lot of ramps up and a lot of opportunity as we move forward. And we're going to try to get to that. We're going to try to, again, as was previously mentioned, look for the lowest hanging fruit and try to adjust those things. The things we can move quickly, making sure that, obviously expenses that we're controlling those pieces, but again, driving additional gaming revenue that's going to flow quickly. And again, making sure that our database marketing and our marketing efforts in general are focused on driving the right things. If you would go out to the Nugget, you would see, I mean, these entertainment events, all the different things. We had the 4th of July celebration that brought 10,000 people to the property around our facility. Those things are bringing people and the market is there. Again, we just have to make sure we're prepared to maximize the revenue and the profitability as we bring those folks in. Q: Maybe starting off in the US and specifically in Missouri, really strong quarter here. Curious just how much you think this has been driven or helped by the February ruling on skill gains and enforcement that seem to start late Q1, early Q2. And then moving forward, if this has been a big tailwind for those assets, how do you think about this moving forward just based on your read of how many machines that were previously in the state have been rendered inactive and the pace of enforcement going forward? A: Lyle Randolph (Executive VP of US Operations): Obviously, we're very excited about the action that the Missouri Attorney General took this spring and with the ruling regarding these illegal games in the state. And so, we do think that there's positive impact in Q2. Those impacts were likely kind of spread toward the closer to the end of the quarter as we still saw locally, especially still locations that had those games. And in fact, we still see some of those. So we think that there's still continued improvement with the enforcement that we may even see additional opportunity as Missouri begins to enforce the law and get those illegal games out of these locations. Q: Lyle, welcome, and I actually want to maybe start with you, and you ran through a lot of comments and a very comprehensive kind of overview of the portfolio. In the couple of months that you've been here, I guess can you just talk about any of the low-hanging fruit that you think can immediately be addressed to help. The assets seem to be performing pretty well, but are there any low-hanging fruit to help these assets perform even better that you can see over the last couple of months? A: Lyle Randolph (Executive VP of US Operations): As I mentioned, there were a lot of the groundwork has been set, but certainly one of the keys is that we want to ensure that our slot floors are maximized for each of the markets. One of the things we're seeing is that the slot customer is changing. Today, a customer may see a game on social media. They may watch an influencer playing it, and they come in and they expect to find that game. And we want to be competitive in that environment. That means getting newer games and product on the floor, whether that's conversions, just making sure we're utilizing our leased product as best we can. We're going to be very careful about how we do that. We just want to maximize our return on that investment. We may not, in some of our markets, be able to compete with the newest building, but what we can do is we can compete on the quality of the gaming experience on those gaming floors. So to me, that's the key piece. And that's what the rest of the business will revolve around, right, making sure that we have the games people want to play, the slot floor is optimized, and then all the other pieces start to come together. Then we can start driving database marketing and pushing those people in to give us another try. There's large opportunities within our inactive and really that deep inactive to get people back to these properties and to show them the improvements that we've made. Q: And then maybe one on Poland, can you just give us some more color on the signs of improvement that you mentioned in that market and how we should be thinking about the balance of the year as road call ramps? A: Erwin Haitzmann (Chair For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Achieved all-time record Q2 revenue and EBITDA, driven by a 12% EBITDA increase in North American operations which now represent approximately 90% of total results. Performance attribution is largely credited to the 'contribution phase' of capital investments made over the last two years, particularly at the Nugget and Missouri properties. The Nugget saw a 93% EBITDA increase, fueled by a successful entertainment calendar and a 300% surge in transient corporate room nights during historically soft periods. Operational efficiency improved across the portfolio, with U.S. property margins expanding from 24% to 26% through disciplined expense management and gaming floor optimization. Management noted a resilient local customer base (within 45-minute drives) that is spending closer to home due to high airfares and general economic factors. Poland underperformed due to the closure of the Hilton Warsaw casino and unusually low table hold, though management views this as a temporary transition period. Strategic positioning is shifting toward a 'U.S.-centric' model, with active due diligence underway for the potential monetization of international assets in Poland and Canada. Management expects the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to reduce to well below 6x by year-end 2026, supported by entering the strongest cash flow quarter and reduced CapEx requirements. The 2026 strategy remains focused on 'execution and harvesting,' with July already showing early indications of continued double-digit EBITDA growth. Future growth at the Nugget is expected to come from further gaming floor optimization and better integration of hotel and convention operations. In Colorado, management anticipates increased visitation to Cripple Creek driven by the evolution of the neighboring Chamonix resort, viewing it as a market-expanding catalyst. Capital allocation will prioritize debt reduction as liquidity improves, with no debt maturities scheduled until the second quarter of 2029. The Polish segment faced a $1 million gaming revenue headwind in June specifically due to table game hold falling significantly below historical theoretical averages. A court decision in Alberta has delayed a potential new competitor near Century Mile by requiring the Camrose Casino relocation process to restart. Mountaineer's year-over-year profitability comparison was skewed by the loss of a large construction group contract that ended in June 2025, worth approximately $0.5 million. Management flagged the opening of Happy Valley Casino in Pennsylvania as a new competitive headwind for the Rocky Gap property. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Management confirmed the Attorney General's crackdown on illegal games provided a tailwind, though the full impact was likely concentrated toward the end of Q2. Further opportunity for growth exists as enforcement continues to remove remaining illegal machines from local non-casino venues. Two groups are currently in due diligence for the Polish operations, though the process is complicated by regional geopolitical tensions. Canadian assets may be sold as a single package or split into 'racino' and 'commercial' packages, with a public disclosure expected before year-end. Meaningful paydowns of the Term Loan B are being deferred until there is more clarity on the timing and proceeds of these asset sales. Management stated they have seen no evidence of cannibalization since the launch a few weeks ago. They suggested the relationship between online and retail gaming may prove to be 'neutral fertilization' rather than a direct threat to land-based visitation. The new VP of U.S. Operations identified slot floor optimization as the primary immediate opportunity, specifically catering to customers influenced by social media trends. Focus will be placed on re-engaging 'deep inactive' segments of the database to showcase recent property improvements.

Churchill Downs (CHDN) came out with quarterly earnings of $3.45 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.51 per share. This compares to earnings of $3.1 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -1.71%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this racetrack operator and gambling company would post earnings of $1.06 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.21, delivering a surprise of +14.15%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. Churchill Downs, which belongs to the Zacks Gaming industry, posted revenues of $980 million for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.34%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $934.4 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Churchill Downs shares have lost about 21.6% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8.5%. While Churchill Downs has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Churchill Downs was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $1.31 on $698.94 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $7.14 on $3.02 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Gaming is currently in the bottom 25% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Another stock from the same industry, Century Casinos (CNTY), has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. This casino operator is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.40 per share in its upcoming report, which represents no change from the year-ago quarter. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. Century Casinos' revenues are expected to be $152.1 million, up 0.9% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Churchill Downs, Incorporated (CHDN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Century Casinos, Inc. (CNTY) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Image source: The Motley Fool. Friday, May 8, 2026 at 10 a.m. ET Co-Chief Executive Officer — Peter Hoetzinger Co-Chief Executive Officer — Erwin Haitzmann Chief Financial Officer — Margaret Stapleton Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email [email protected] Peter Hoetzinger: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our earnings call. Before we start, we would like to remind everyone that we will be discussing forward-looking information under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ from those projected. Throughout the call, we refer to several non-GAAP financial measures, including but not limited to adjusted EBITDAR. Reconciliations of our non-GAAP measures to the appropriate GAAP measures can be found in our news releases and SEC filings available in the Investors section of our website at cnty.com. With me today are my co-CEO, Erwin Haitzmann, and our Chief Financial Officer, Margaret Stapleton. We delivered strong flow-through, with some property margins in the high 30s and even above 40%. In the quarter, we benefited from growth across core and retail customers, from improving weather conditions as well as from a predominantly local repeat customer base, a diversified portfolio, and limited exposure to new supply. As mentioned in our last call, we have been seeing solid trends since around December despite higher gas prices. At most of our properties, the majority of our customers live within a 45-minute drive; hence, the overall economy, inflation, and especially employment are more meaningful than gas prices alone. We are also seeing some benefits from tax refunds being higher year over year, offset by a less favorable macro and geopolitical backdrop. Our properties are spread across five states and one Canadian province, and these positive results were also supported by the ongoing trend of customers staying closer to home and spending their money closer to home. Across the entire U.S. portfolio, the trend of strong play from high-value and core customer segments continued. Overall, rated revenue increased 5%, emphasized by solid growth in the high and mid ADT segments and in all age groups. Last but not least, we benefited from strong returns from the capital investments we have made over the last two-plus years. These investments have finally entered the contribution phase, contributing to EBITDA growth and helping us to start deleveraging the balance sheet. With that, I will now turn it over to Erwin for more color on our individual properties. Erwin Haitzmann: Thank you, Peter, and good morning, everyone. In the United States, we had an excellent first quarter with year-over-year revenue and EBITDA growth at each property. Beginning in the East with Rocky Gap Casino Resort and Golf in Maryland, revenue increased 6.5% from $13.9 million to $14.8 million, and EBITDA increased 32% from $1.6 million to $2.2 million. Rocky Gap had a strong quarter with total revenue up nearly 10% and NOR up 6.5%, driven by solid gains in visitation in January and February. Food revenue rose 16%, boosted by [inaudible]. The property's direct mail digitization initiative, which we introduced for guests aged 39 and younger, is delivering meaningful savings in marketing spend while maintaining engagement. Payroll discipline continued, with total payroll up only 1.6% despite annual increases. Operating expenses were down 5.2%. On the customer side, rated gaming revenue grew 21%. [inaudible] customers accounted for 33% of total gaming revenue and grew 39%. We are seeing growth across all age groups, with seniors up 28%, and middle-aged and young adults each up 14%. Non-local now accounts for more than half of rated gaming revenue, reflecting the property's continued draw as a destination resort. We experienced some softness in March, likely driven by higher gas prices. Looking ahead, the team has activated targeted campaigns in Pennsylvania ahead of the opening of a new casino in State College, which is approximately two hours from Rocky Gap. Continuing with Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in West Virginia, revenue increased 3.9% from $23.2 million to $24.1 million, and EBITDA increased 24% from $2.6 million to $3.2 million. Mountaineer's Q1 result was driven by expense discipline and moderate revenue growth. Total revenue was essentially flat while NOR improved 3.9% due to a $0.7 million reduction in free play. Our digital channels continued their strong growth. iGaming revenue was up 48% year over year, and sports betting was up 285%. Hotel occupancy held steady with higher cash and lower comp revenue. Adults 40 to 59 years old grew 12% and young adults grew 24% in rated gaming revenue. These are encouraging signs for the property's customer base development. Local customers grew 11% and now account for 81% of rated revenue, reflecting Mountaineer's position as a regional entertainment anchor in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle. Now on to our Midwest portfolio, starting in Missouri. At Century Casino and Hotel Cape Girardeau, revenue increased 6.4% from $17.1 million to $18.2 million, and EBITDA increased 12% from $6.1 million to $6.9 million. Cape Girardeau had a strong quarter. The increase in net operating revenue was driven by excellent slot performance. Slot revenue was up 6.5% and guest volumes were up 8%. Our retail sportsbook, which launched in December 2025, is already averaging 17% of Missouri's total sports betting handle and is ranked second in the state—an impressive early result. The Riverview Hotel continues to perform well, with occupancy rising to 76% from 68% in Q1 of last year. Comp hotel guests are generating an average ADT of more than $400, confirming the strong link between hotel stay and gaming value. Illinois patronage is rebounding, with unique patrons up 6% over prior year. The competitive picture, including Walker's Bluff and Metropolis in Illinois, remains manageable. Now to our Century Casino and Hotel Caruthersville. There, revenue increased 3.1% from $14.2 million to $14.6 million, and EBITDA increased 5% from $6.1 million to $6.3 million. Caruthersville continues to deliver strong, consistent results from its well-established permanent facility. Both slots and tables delivered positive revenue growth, with slots up 7% and tables up 2%. High ADT customers grew 23%, and Missouri patronage grew by 22%. Trips from patrons living more than 75 miles away increased by 20%, a clear indicator that the new facility is drawing from a broader geographic catchment area. Also note that there was a one-time favorable settlement of $0.225 million in Q1 of last year. On an average-to-average basis, EBITDA growth was 9%. Continuing with Colorado, at Century Casino and Hotel Cripple Creek, revenue increased 8.6% from $4.1 million to $4.4 million, and EBITDA increased 37% from $1.1 million to $1.5 million. Cripple Creek had a very good quarter. The elimination of table games at the start of 2025 continues to prove its worth. The electronic table games lounge is popular among our guests, especially young adults. Accordingly, this age group shows the strongest growth. Payroll and benefits were down $0.07 million, or nearly 5%, and total expenses fell 1.5%. The result is a clean, lean operation with further improved profitability. Customer trends show healthy growth in both unrated and non-local play, which we attribute to our successful marketing initiatives and our continued focus on customer satisfaction. Rated gaming revenue grew 5%, with mid and low ADT segments each up more than 15%. At the Century Casino and Hotel Central City, revenue was up 4% from $4.4 million to $4.6 million, and EBITDA more than quadrupled from $0.2 million to over $1 million. Central City's improvement continued in Q1. The removal of table games, which we implemented at the start of 2025, has significantly improved the property's cost profile. Total expenses were down $0.6 million year over year, with payroll and benefits alone down $0.313 million. Slot revenue was flat with prior year. The EBITDA improvement is substantial and reflects a better managed operation. We are also seeing some improvement in unrated and non-local play at Central City. Hotel cash revenue was up 10%, with a strong Q2 event calendar, including the twentieth anniversary challenge, a multi-month promotion culminating in a car, trips, or cash drawing on July 5. Now to the West and the Nugget Casino Resort in Reno, revenue increased 4% from $16.4 million to $17.1 million, and EBITDA increased 93% from $0.7 million to $1.4 million. The Nugget's EBITDA doubling is significant, as expenses were flat; the increase in revenue was fully flowing through to EBITDA. Total cash revenue was up $1 million, a 31% increase. F&B cash revenue was up 7%, demonstrating that the non-gaming amenities are gaining traction. Unrated gaming grew 16%, suggesting growing walk-in visitation aided by the increased hotel occupancy and improved entertainment offers. The concert lineup for this year is excellent. The Brooks & Dunn concert on April 25 was sold out. The acts still to come include Keith Urban, Lady A, Shinedown, Miranda Lambert, and Deep Purple. Now to Canada. Our portfolio in Alberta, Canada consists of Century Casino and Hotel Edmonton, Century Casino St. Albert in the Edmonton metropolitan area, Century Mile Racetrack and Casino to the south of Edmonton, and Century Downs Racetrack and Casino to the north of Calgary. These properties performed very well in Q1 too. Combined revenue increased 10.9% from $16.5 million to $18.3 million, and combined EBITDA increased 26% from $4.4 million to $5.5 million. We saw another quarter of solid performance at our Alberta operations. The renovation of the exterior facade at our St. Albert casino, which was completed last year, has significantly improved results. Our Century Mile Racetrack and Casino achieved the best quarterly performance since its opening in 2019. We completed the construction of sports bars at all four sites and are well prepared to offer retail sports betting, which will be permitted in Alberta at casinos and select sports sites later in 2026. Finally, moving to Poland, revenue increased 2.3% from [inaudible] to [inaudible], and EBITDAR decreased 8% from [inaudible] to [inaudible]. The challenging period marked by license delays and relocations has ended, and we can focus on improving overall results. Our second Wroclaw location started operations in February and is expected to further strengthen our position. While revenue is showing a small increase already, EBITDA is down 8%. We attribute this decrease to lower than normal replacement CapEx given the intent to sell the Poland subsidiary. All current licenses are valid through at least 2028, and we expect stable operations going forward. With that, back to you, Peter. Peter Hoetzinger: Thank you, Erwin. Let us now go over some capital and balance sheet items and share our outlook for the rest of the year with you. As reported, adjusted EBITDAR for the quarter was $24.9 million versus €20.2 million last year. Cash rent was $18 million versus $16.3 million, resulting in adjusted EBITDA of $7 million this year versus $3.9 million last year, an 80% increase. Our cash and cash equivalents as of March 31 were $6 million. We spent approximately $3 million in CapEx in the quarter, mainly on gaming equipment, the new casino in Poland, as well as on other small projects throughout the different properties. Total debt outstanding was $337 million, resulting in net debt of $277 million. At the end of the quarter, our net debt to EBITDA ratio remained unchanged at 6.9 times. The adjusted ratio was 7.6 times, again unchanged from the previous quarter. Importantly, we are now heading into the stronger cash flow quarters and are seeing positive indications that the business is on the right track to lower leverage to more manageable levels of leverage. Let me also note that we have no debt maturities for the next three years—that is, until 2029. Reducing leverage is a top priority throughout the remainder of the year, as share repurchases are on the back burner. As mentioned in previous earnings calls, 2026 will be a year of execution and harvesting for us. While we have the rest of the year still to deliver, I am happy to report we are off to a good start. I would say that April feels very much like a continuation of Q1, which is good. We are not seeing any cracks in the armor. Across the board, we are feeling really good for the remainder of the year. We see a solid trend continuing into the second quarter, and we see a clear path forward to higher EBITDAR and cash flow for 2026 and beyond. The regional consumer has been remarkably resilient to the noise that we have seen in the last couple of months. Regional and local business feels firm. We expect to benefit from strong improvements in performance at the Nugget as well as in Colorado, and from the continued ramp of the new land-based facility in Caruthersville. Cash flow-wise, in addition to higher EBITDAR, we expect to benefit from decreasing CapEx. While we spent a total of $18 million of our cash for CapEx in 2025, we expect that amount to come down to between $14 million and $15 million for this year. This is all normal capital cycle stuff. We have no big projects around the corner. As you know, we just came off a large capital expenditure program, so it is quite natural that we now spend some time harvesting that cash flow to strengthen our balance sheet. As things move forward, we remain focused on improving our free cash flow generation while optimizing our corporate overhead and remaining disciplined with our capital. As for our strategic review process, it is still ongoing, and we continue to make good progress. Selected assets are under exclusivity agreements. We cannot make public comments right now and ask for your understanding that we will not take questions on this topic in our Q&A session. And with that, can you please open the line for our first questions from analysts? Operator? Erwin Haitzmann: Thank you. Operator: We will now open the call for questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press star then one on your telephone keypad, and you will be placed into the queue in the order received. You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing pound then one. If we do not get to your question, please reach out to the company using the Investor Relations page at cnty.com. Once again, to ask a question, press star one now. Our first question will come from Jeffrey Austin Stantial with Stifel. Jeffrey Austin Stantial: Great. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking our questions. Starting off, I would love to just dig into the quarter a little bit. The margins were really the piece that surprised us the most to the upside. Erwin, you gave us a lot of different data points at the asset level to help us think about it. I guess, to tie it all together and think about things at a more macro level, can you just talk about how much of the margin expansion you saw in Q1 was more one-time in nature—whether that is easier flow-through comps on weather impact or certain initiatives that played out—versus how much is more structural in nature? Or, put another way, how should we think about flow-through assuming revenue holds stable as the year progresses? Thanks. Erwin Haitzmann: Mhmm. Yeah, I can—The format would not allow to go into all details, but I will give you examples. As I mentioned earlier, in Rocky Gap we changed the mailer, and everybody 39 and younger will only get emails and not a physical mailer anymore. That saves money, obviously, and we think for the obvious reason that makes sense, and that has been very well accepted and is starting to save some costs. Another example would be the Nugget, where we significantly increased the points that we give. For example, at the table games we increased the points we give fourfold—four times as many as before—and then for slots, for a month or two, we doubled what we comp back. It is working so well that we might continue with that campaign for a longer period of time. We will continue to do more of that. As I said, I could give you more examples, but it is property by property. As new ideas come up, we encourage them to try and see what works. Jeffrey Austin Stantial: Thanks for that, Erwin. And then maybe double-clicking on that last point—the marketing initiatives—I think you talked about marketing costs being down at Rocky Gap. I think you mentioned you pulled back on free play at Mountaineer. Can you just talk about the process a little bit more? How do you decide where to pull back, whether on marketing or promos? And then is there any sort of player-level data or analysis that you have put together that you can share with us that shows this is not going to have an impact, whether immediately or longer term, on player behavior? Thanks. Erwin Haitzmann: Jeff, thanks for the question. I think it is twofold. There was a little bit of a weather impact, as last year in Q1 there was inclement weather in a few of our properties. But that is only for a certain portion of the increase. I think the larger portion is that we ran an initiative across all properties, pushing one more time for really searching for possibilities for cost savings both on the property side and on the corporate level. We were checking all agreements again for whether we could get advantages in purchasing, for example by combining the power all across the United States. We browsed through all the large and also the smaller agreements, some of which we just said we do not need anymore and can replace by in-house services. We wanted to give it a push and encouraged everyone to look at all the costs with a fresh eye. That was the second part. And the third part was that we did the same thing for the marketing side. Again, we encouraged everyone to rethink everything and make new proposals, see whether there is anything we have not done that we should try, and encourage new initiatives. That showed good results—in some cases, exceptional results. Jeffrey Austin Stantial: Helpful. Thanks very much. Erwin Haitzmann: Certainly. Operator: And our next question will come from Ryan Sigdahl with Craig-Hallum. Ryan Sigdahl: Hey, good day, guys. Alberta—nice quarter, really strong results, revenue and profit-wise. How much was there an impact from the macroeconomic—higher oil prices, etc.—versus company-specific initiatives? Erwin Haitzmann: Ryan, thanks for the question. It is really hard to say. In Alberta, we used to say when oil prices are high, then the revenues are better, but that is not necessarily true anymore and cannot be linked directly. I think it is a similar thing: we also made a marketing push there and encouraged all the managers—who are doing a wonderful job—to dig some more, share ideas with us, and, as I said, to try new things. Some of them work really well. It seems that this fresh wind is also going to the customers and then ultimately to the income statement. Ryan Sigdahl: And just on free cash flow—good to hear the confidence in that increasing. A couple years ago, you were targeting $30 million plus of free cash flow. Is that still a realistic target and timeline to get there, and then the levers you plan to pull? Erwin Haitzmann: Peter, can I turn it over to you? Peter Hoetzinger: Yes, Ryan. We think that with the improvements that we have made to our portfolio over the last couple of years, our asset portfolio is certainly capable of doing that. We need the low-end consumer to come back a little bit more than what we currently are seeing. With that, and the continued improvements that we are making—especially at the Nugget, which we believe has the highest potential upside—that is certainly the goal in the next two or three years. Ryan Sigdahl: Thanks, Peter and Erwin. Good luck, guys. Erwin Haitzmann: Thank you. Operator: And our next question will come from Chad C. Beynon with Macquarie. Chad C. Beynon: Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Wanted to talk about the Nugget. You spoke about the strong concert calendar that we can see on your website here—looks really good over the next couple of months—and conventions could be up. Not looking specifically for numbers; really good to see the strong EBITDA increase for Q1. But is there a way for us to think about visitation to the market or how meaningful these bigger concerts could be for the summer period? And if you usually see higher play at the slot machines and table games during these periods as well? Thanks. Erwin Haitzmann: Definitely. Thanks for the question, Chad. The concerts are meaningful from various perspectives. First of all, we believe that we have the most attractive outdoor venue in the market in the Reno-Sparks market, and it is popular not only with the guests; it is also popular with the artists. Then yes, the economics of a concert is not only ticket sales minus costs for the artist and production—there is a lot around it. It is the food and beverage revenue that is made in the Nugget event center, which is meaningful if organized well and contributes a lot. But then it is also very important to get the customer over to the casino, and we see that there is a significant lift in casino revenue and in food and beverage revenue over at the casino and the various restaurant outlets. Also, for the night of the concert and the night before and the night after, we see a significant increase in hotel revenues. Of course, we are also selling packages where we sell hotel rooms together with concert tickets. We market that as well. So a successful concert can be really meaningful. And Brooks & Dunn was one of those that were sold out and had a fantastic impact on the numbers. Chad C. Beynon: Okay. Great. Thanks for that additional color. Then with respect to Poland, on the cost side or the margin improvement, can you return to growth when you get past some of that, or do you need revenues to increase from here to see EBITDA increase year over year? Erwin Haitzmann: We mainly think we need the ramp-up of the second Wroclaw casino. That took a little bit longer than we had hoped for, but it is coming now. Yes, we are looking for the increase in revenue to increase EBITDA. We said that before when we had these closures and openings, and sometimes it goes quicker; in other instances, it takes a little bit longer until the customers are coming back. Chad C. Beynon: Okay. Great. Thank you very much. Operator: Thank you. Our next question will come from Connor Joseph Parks with CBRE. Connor Joseph Parks: Hi. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking our questions. I appreciate the comments around leverage and the prioritization of leverage here going forward. As you hit this inflection point in free cash flow, at what point might you start to use some cash on hand or internal liquidity to start to buy back the loan in the open market, especially considering where the loan has traded over the past few months? Erwin Haitzmann: Thanks for the question, Connor. Peter? Peter Hoetzinger: Yes, Connor, that is definitely the thing to do. We are planning to sell Poland, as we have said. And the next market that is non-core after Poland is obviously Canada. And then we are now heading into the stronger months of cash generation for operations. So these are the three sources of cash, and, as you probably have seen in our [inaudible] filing, we have reached an agreement with one holder of the term loan B that allows us to tender up to a certain amount of the term loan at a specified discount. We did not have that agreement before. Our term loan B contract and the agreement obliged us to use proceeds from asset sales to buy back the term loan B at par, and that was obviously not the most productive thing to do. Now that we have that in place, we will definitely use proceeds from either asset sales or positive operating cash flow to pay down some of that term loan B, of priority. Connor Joseph Parks: Great. Thank you for that. All makes sense. And then as a follow-up on that same announcement from yesterday evening, the addition of a new board member—impressive gaming background for him, specifically the Mohegan Tribe. What type of role, if you are able to share, do you expect him to play, whether it be operationally, with the balance sheet, or kind of all of the above? Thank you. Erwin Haitzmann: It is probably a little bit early to say. Mitchell has just joined our board yesterday or today officially, and will get started soon. He will start visiting our properties, and he certainly will make his experience available and will share his thoughts with us. We are excited about it. We believe this can be very fruitful and positive to get further input from somebody with an experienced background like Mitchell has for the properties of Century Casinos, Inc. Connor Joseph Parks: Great. Thank you. I appreciate it. Erwin Haitzmann: Definitely. Thank you. Operator: That is all the time we have. If we did not get to your question, please reach out to the company using the Investor Relations page at cnty.com. I will now turn the call back to Mr. Hoetzinger for closing remarks. Peter Hoetzinger: I would like to just thank everybody for joining the call. We appreciate that. We will talk again in August when we will present the results of the second quarter. Until then, thank you, and goodbye. Operator: Thank you. This does conclude today's Century Casinos, Inc. Q1 2026 Earnings Call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Before you buy stock in Century Casinos, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Century Casinos wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. 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As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Century Casinos (CNTY) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Performance was driven by the successful transition of Caruthersville to a permanent land-based facility, which effectively doubled its EBITDA over a six-year period. Management attributed Missouri growth to the property's ability to attract high-value customers ($400+ ADT) and middle-aged segments from expanded geographic catchments. The strategic removal of table games at Colorado properties proved accretive as payroll savings more than offset lost gaming revenue without impacting slot performance. Mountaineer's EBITDA growth was primarily driven by aggressive cost-saving initiatives and iGaming performance, helping mitigate high state gaming taxes and regional competition. The Nugget in Reno is undergoing a strategic pivot toward the mid-value customer segment and revamped marketing to stabilize performance after a transitional year. Poland operations have stabilized following the resolution of administrative and licensing delays, with all current licenses now secured through at least 2028. Management characterizes 2026 as a 'harvesting' year, focusing on generating returns from recent capital investments rather than initiating new large-scale projects. Financial guidance assumes a significant reduction in cash CapEx from €18 million in 2025 to between €14 million and €15 million in 2026. The outlook for the Nugget relies on a robust entertainment lineup and rebounding group business to drive year-over-year performance improvements. Strategic assumptions for 2026 include potential catalysts from consumer tax cuts and the continued ramp-up of the new Missouri facilities. The company is actively engaged in a strategic review process with selected assets currently under exclusivity agreements for potential divestiture. Year-over-year comparisons in Colorado were skewed by $2.5 million in one-time sports betting contract termination payments received in the prior year. Severe winter weather in December and early 2025 acted as a significant headwind for Rocky Gap and Mountaineer due to limited customer accessibility. A recent federal ruling against unregulated video lottery terminals in Missouri is viewed as a potential tailwind for the company's licensed casino operations. The company faces a high-leverage profile with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 6.9x, though management noted no debt maturities until 2029. Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Management observed retail strength returning across the entire U.S. portfolio, impacting both gaming floors and hotel occupancy. This trend is described as a general recovery rather than being isolated to specific properties or regions. The company has secured large-scale conference bookings as far out as 2030-2032, indicating long-term demand for the renovated Reno property. Short-term 'in-the-year-for-the-year' bookings are currently trending approximately 15% higher than 2025 levels. Management explicitly prioritized debt paydown over share repurchases for the 2026-2027 period. Future allocation decisions will be heavily influenced by the timing and proceeds of pending asset divestitures. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here.