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Good day, and welcome to the Red Rock Resorts first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal conference specialist by pressing the star key, followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch tone phone, and to withdraw your question please press star then two. Please know this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Stephen Cootey, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer of Red Rock Resorts. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Red Rock Resorts first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Joining me on the call today are Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, Scott Kreeger, and our executive management team. I'd like to remind everyone that our call today will include forward-looking statements under the Safe Harbor provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws. Developments and results may differ from those projected. During this call, we will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures. For definitions and complete reconciliation of these figures to GAAP, please refer to the financial tables in our earnings press release, Form 8-K, and investor deck, which were filed this afternoon prior to the call. Please note this call is being recorded. Let's start by noting that the first quarter represented another strong quarter for the company across all key measures.

Our Las Vegas operations delivered the highest first quarter net revenue and the second highest first quarter adjusted EBITDA in our history while maintaining near record adjusted EBITDA margin. This performance was achieved despite several headwinds later in the quarter, including higher gas prices, air travel-related disruption, and temporary construction impacts at and around several of our properties, underscoring the strength and resilience of our business model. In addition to delivering strong first-quarter results, we remain very pleased with Durango's performance and the successful revenue backfill at our core properties. Durango continues to expand the Las Vegas locals market and drive incremental play from our existing customers, reinforcing its position as a meaningful growth driver in our portfolio.

Since completing our December expansion, adding more than 25,000 sq ft of casino space, a premier high-limit slot area, and nearly 2,000 additional covered parking spaces, we've continued to see strong financial performance alongside positive guest feedback. With more than four months of operating history for the new high-limit slot area, results continue to validate our strategy of investing in premium slot and table offerings across our portfolio. Building on Durango's momentum, we continue to advance the next phase of the property's master plan, the Durango North expansion. With more than 6,000 new households expected within a three-mile radius over the next few years, this expansion is designed to broaden Durango's customer appeal and strengthen its competitive position.

The project will add more than 275,000 sq ft along the north side of the property, including nearly 400 additional slot machines and other gaming, along with new amenities to drive repeat visitation, highlighted by a 36-lane bowling facility, luxury movie theaters, and new dining and entertainment venues, including our partnership with Moonshine Flats, which brings its signature country western bar and live music concept to Las Vegas for the first time. The project is scheduled to open in the summer of 2027, with a total cost estimated at approximately $385 million. Now, let's take a look at our first quarter. With respect to our Las Vegas operations, our first quarter net revenue was $499.5 million, up 0.9% from the prior year's first quarter.

Our adjusted EBITDA was $232.4 million, down 1.5% from the prior year's first quarter. Our adjusted EBITDA margin was 46.5%, a decrease of 113 basis points from the prior year. On a consolidated basis, our first quarter net revenue, which includes $4.7 million from our North Fork project, was $507.3 million, up 1.9% from the prior year's first quarter. Our adjusted EBITDA, which includes $2.9 million from our North Fork project, was $212.6 million, down 1.2% from the prior year's first quarter. Our adjusted EBITDA margin was 41.9% for the quarter, a decrease of 129 basis points from the prior year.

In the quarter, we converted 50.3% of our adjusted EBITDA into operating free cash flow, generating $107 million or $1.03 per share. This significant level of free cash flow was strategically deployed to support our long-term growth initiatives, including our most recent projects at Durango, Sunset Station, and Green Valley Ranch, and returning capital to our stakeholders through dividends and share repurchases. As we begin 2026, we remain focused on our core local guests, which continue to grow our continuing to grow our regional and national customer segments across our portfolio. Compared to first quarter last year, we saw continued strength in cardless slot play across the majority of our database.

Robust spend per visit and Net Theoretical Win across our local, regional, and national customer segments helped drive the highest first-quarter gaming revenue and profitability in the company's history. Turning to our non-gaming operations, the hotel and food and beverage division delivered a strong quarter, achieving near-record revenue and profitability. The hotel operations performed well, generating near-record results, driving higher ADR across the portfolio despite the loss of room nights at Green Valley Ranch due to the renovation of our hotel product. Not to be outdone, the food and beverage division delivered its second-best first-quarter revenue in our history and its third-best first quarter profit in our history, supported by higher cover counts and higher average guest checks across our outlets. In Group Sales and Catering, our teams delivered their third-highest first quarter revenue in our history.

If we exclude the lost room nights from our Green Valley Ranch room renovation, we continue to see positive momentum into the first half of 2026. As we look ahead into the second quarter, we are seeing stable trends in our core slot and table business across the Las Vegas locals market and within our carded slot database, consistent with a return to more typical seasonal patterns. While we expect continued near-term disruption from our ongoing construction at and around Durango, Sunset Station, and Green Valley Ranch, we are actively managing these impacts to minimize operational disruption. We remain highly confident in both the strength of our business and the investments we are making at these properties, which we believe support our long-term growth trajectory. Let's cover a few balance sheet and capital items.

Company's cash and cash equivalents at the end of the first quarter was $134 million, and the total principal amount of debt outstanding was $3.6 billion, resulting in net debt of $3.4 billion. As of the end of the quarter, the company's net debt to EBITDA ratio was 4.07 times. During the quarter, we made total distributions of approximately $139.9 million to the LLC unit holders of Station Holdco, including a distribution of approximately $82.1 million to Red Rock Resorts. The company used its portion of the distribution to fund its previously declared special dividend of $1 per Class A common share.

Its previously declared quarterly dividend of $0.26 per Class A common share, and to fund a portion of the repurchase of approximately 635,000 Class A common shares at an average price of $60.32 per share under its previously announced $900 million share repurchase program, reducing total shares outstanding to approximately 104.4 million. When combining the dividends and the share repurchases made in the quarter, we returned approximately $170.5 million to shareholders, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to disciplined capital allocation and delivering sustainable long-term value to our shareholders. Capital spend in the quarter was $117.2 million, which includes approximately $87.2 million in investment capital as well as $30 million in maintenance capital.

For the full year 2026, we expect to spend between $375 million and $425 million, which includes $275 million-$300 million in investment capital as well as $100 million-$125 million in maintenance capital. In addition to our continued investment at our Durango property, we're making significant investments at our Sunset Station and Green Valley Ranch properties. At Sunset Station, we continue to make strong progress on the podium refresh. The $53 million renovation is well underway and includes an all-new country western bar and nightclub, a new Mexican restaurant, a new center bar, and a fully renovated casino floor. Customer feedback and performance from the completed portions of this project have been encouraging, reinforcing our confidence in the direction of the renovation and the underlying demand at the property.

The project remains on budget, with the remaining amenities expected to come online throughout 2026, including the iconic Gaudi Bar, which is expected to reopen in the coming weeks. Building on this momentum, we are advancing the next phase of Sunset Station, designed to further strengthen the property's competitive position and broaden its customer appeal, positioning it to capitalize on the continued growth in Henderson market, particularly from the master-planned communities of Ascaya and Cadence. This phase will continue with the comprehensive casino refresh, including expansion and enhancement of the movie theaters, as well as the relocation of the temporary bingo area to a new permanent location. Upon completion of the bingo relocation, the former buffet space will be converted into a new Highland Steakhouse and the high-limit table games room, leveraging a proven strategy that has consistently generated strong returns across our portfolio.

Work in this phase is expected to begin this quarter, with the remainder of the project commencing in the back half of 2026 and extending into 2027. The total cost of this phase remains approximately $87 million. At Green Valley Ranch, we continue to make strong progress on the comprehensive refresh of our guest rooms, suites, and convention spaces, aligning the hotel experience with the recently renovated and well-received high-limit table and slot rooms at the property. Renovations to the west tower and convention spaces are now complete, with both the tower and convention areas have reopened to strong customer reviews and encouraging financial performance despite ongoing property disruption. Renovations to the east tower are well underway and are expected to extend into late summer 2026. Continuing with Green Valley Ranch's long-term redevelopment strategy, we're advancing the next phase of enhancements at this resort.

This phase is designed to further strengthen the property's competitive position as one of the premier resort destinations in Las Vegas and broaden its customer appeal through a fully refreshed casino floor, along with upgraded food and beverage and entertainment offerings. These enhancements build on the performance we are seeing from the high-limit product and the renovated room and convention inventory and are intended to drive increased visitation and deeper customer engagement. Work in this phase is underway and is expected to extend into 2027, with the total cost of this phase estimated at approximately $56 million. Turning to North Fork, construction continues to progress. The facility now has permanent power, and we're working toward turnover of the first phase of the casino floor in late June, keeping us on pace for an early fourth quarter 2026 open.

Total all-in project cost remains approximately $750 million. The project is fully financed. As of the end of this quarter, Red Rock's outstanding note balance due from the tribe was approximately $80.6 million. We remain excited about this best-in-class development and are pleased with the continued progress of construction and look forward to providing further updates on future earnings calls. The company's board of directors has also declared its regular cash dividend of $0.26 per Class A common share, payable on June 30th to Class A shareholders of record as of June 15th. With the first quarter behind us, we remain highly confident in the strength and resilience of our business model, as well as in the recent capital investments we have made across the portfolio.

Durango continues to validate our long-term growth strategy and underscores the value of our owned development pipeline and real estate bank, which includes more than 450 acres of the developable land in the highly desirable locations across the Las Vegas Valley. Combined with our portfolio of best-in-class assets and premier locations, this pipeline positions us for significant long-term growth and enables us to capitalize on the favorable demographic trends and high barriers to entry that define the Las Vegas locals market. Looking ahead, we remain focused on executing our development pipeline, maintaining operational discipline, and delivering enhanced shareholder returns through a balanced, consistent, and disciplined capital allocation strategy. Before we wrap up, we would like to sincerely thank all of our team members for their continued hard work and dedication.

They are the heart of the company and the driving force behind the exceptional guest experiences that keep our customers coming back time and again. In recognition for their efforts, we are proud to share that Station Casinos has been recognized by Forbes and Statista as one of the America's best large employers in 2026. We are also proud to have been recognized for the sixth consecutive year as Top Workplace in Nevada. In addition, we've earned national recognition as USA Today Top Workplace for the third consecutive year and for the first time as a Top Workplace in the hospitality industry. Lastly, as we approach our 50th anniversary, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to our loyal guests for their unwavering support. We are deeply thankful for the trust they place in us and look forward to continuing to serve our communities for many years to come.

With that, operator, we'd be happy to open our line for questions.

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch tone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then two. Our first question for today will come from Trey Bowers with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Hi, this is Zachary Silverberg here, filling in for Trey. Thanks for taking my question. In the prepared remarks, you mentioned a couple of headwinds. I'd like to touch on the first two, the higher gas prices and air travel. Could you quantify those two buckets, what the impact was in 1Q and kind of what you're seeing in 2Q thus far?

No, I mean, I can qualify. I mean, clearly, we're experiencing higher gas prices in Nevada. I think we're in early days, as judged by our Q1 performance and what we're seeing in April. We've seen no impact from higher gas prices. What was the second one, Zach?

The air travel.

The air travel. Given the fact, you know, while 87% of our hotel guests are generally out of town, the majority of these folks are driving from the regional states. The TSA impact has been de minimis.

Okay. I appreciate the color. Just for the follow-up, just on seasonality for 1Q to 2Q, could you remind us of the typical cadence? Are there any one-timers to call out either last year or this year that could affect performance? Thanks.

Yeah, sure. I mean, I think, generally seasonality, Q1 is definitely our peak quarter. Moving from Q1 to Q2, generally we're down 8%-9%. There's no real one-timers other than the $9 million disruption number that we've previously quoted in our last call, which still stands. In Q2, given some of the construction delays we're seeing at Green Valley, we're expecting another $9 million of disruption to occur in Q2. As we start bringing cranes, cement trucks, and start erecting steel at our Durango site, we're anticipating another $2 million-$3 million of disruption starting next quarter.

Thank you.

The next question will come from Barry Jonas with Truist Securities. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Steve, just wanted to follow up on Durango. Obviously, you got a new slide in the deck, somewhat detailing, and there's a great video there too. Just curious, I think the projects in the vicinity go through July of 2027. How should we be thinking about disruption between now and then, you know, beyond what you outlined for next quarter? Thanks.

Sure. I mean, I think as you, as you saw from the video and from the map, you know, we did experience, you know, significant traffic disruption in the first quarter. I think the team on the ground did an exceptional job managing through that disruption. This is early days in a $385 million construction project. Now we start beginning the heavy lifting. You know, the cement is effectively poured. We're starting to mobilize cranes early this quarter, and we're gonna start erecting steel. This is why we're expecting a bit more significant disruption as we go through the main poor part of the build. The $2 million-$3 million estimate for disruption sticks pretty much through the summer to the completion of the project.

Understood. Just for a follow-up, you know, tax refunds are sort of kicking in now. Curious if that's showing in your business at all, especially with the no tax on tips and some of the other positives in the one big beautiful bill. Thank you.

I mean, Barry, I think the bill did its job. I think you saw where return processing was pretty constant. The amount of refunds this year versus last year was almost $43 billion to the U.S. economy, up 17%. The average refund was up almost $333 or 11%. The bill did have its intended consequence of providing more discretionary income into the economy. From our perspective, there's a lot of moving parts in the quarter, as you know. I think we clearly demonstrated we had a great quarter in Q1, our second-best Q1 on record. What we're seeing in April, we like what we're seeing in April.

Thank you.

Your next question will come from Joe Stauff with Susquehanna. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Steve, on your comments about, say, the new phases at Suncoast and GVR, I was just wondering what the update is on the Greenfield project and how you think about maybe when those might layer in at this point?

I comment on Suncoast.

The, you know, Sunset and Green Valley projects, Joe, I think as I articulated in the March, you know, we are progressing. On Sunset, we are progressing well. We're gonna open the Gaudi Bar in the coming weeks, then we expect the rest of the amenities in our phase to open up throughout 2026. In terms of Green Valley, the West Tower and the Convention Center have been open, and we have seen very promising financial results, even though they're early days. The East Tower, you know, we're limping along a little bit, we're expecting, you know, kind of the suite product and the final rooms to be delivered in mid-September.

Yeah, this is Lorenzo. Look, we're continuing to work through the pipeline that we have. We're currently working on what is a potential to add rooms at Durango, rooms, a spa, and some additional meeting space. In addition to that, we're actively working on 2 additional new greenfield projects. Going through the process of working on the plans, the scale of the project, working on pricing. You know, as that process goes, it's really not something that you can necessarily rush. There's times when we go through it, and we sit back down and start over again because it's not perfect. We are making progress, and we don't have anything to announce now or necessarily in the very near future.

As we kind of turn the corner into next year, I think we'll have more visibility into what the development plan is gonna look like. I mean, we do have six development properties here in Las Vegas, plus one up in Reno for a total of seven, which is, we believe, the most robust pipeline that anybody has in the gaming industry. We're very bullish on it. We just wanna make sure we get things right. Takes time to develop these projects.

Makes sense. Thank you.

Your next question will come from Dan Politzer with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Hey, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for the question. It's been a few months since you opened the new part of Durango. Can you talk about what you've seen there and how you're thinking about the returns? I know it's still relatively early, but at this point, you should have, I think, probably a good idea of how that's progressing.

Hi, Dan. This is Scott. We're really happy with the early results of the Durango expansion. If you recall, we not only increased the casino floor with slot machines, but also added the new slot high limit room. Just about every quarter, Steve and I have been reporting on what we call the Durango Zone. You know, that area saw a notably increased Net Theo for the quarter over last year. It really is confirming the thesis that continued capital investment in Durango is a good thing. You know, that's with the team fighting through some of this disruption that you probably see on the investor deck with the traffic situation. We're really encouraged with what's going on there.

Got it. Thanks. Just for my follow-up, just so to clarify, the disruption for the second quarter, you said $9 million for GVR and then an incremental $2 million-$3 million related to Durango, so it's just $11 million and $12 million, correct? Just clarifying that.

That is correct, Dan.

Got it. Thanks so much.

The next question will come from John DeCree with CBRE. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. I would love a little bit more detail on the EBITDA margin decline year-over-year, trying to unpack what might be attributable to disruption in the quarter and transitory versus perhaps a little bit more persistent OpEx inflation.

Yeah, not a problem. I, one thing I did want to point out that from an EBITDA perspective, we feel very comfortable with our margins, given some of the structural changes we've made, you know, over the last several years in terms of our business. You know, proud to say that, you know, Q1 represented the 21st quarter of the last 23 since COVID, where Las Vegas operations was above 45%. To get to your question, you know, I think we've done a great job managing payroll. Payroll is probably up a little under 3%, which is in line with the Valley, cost, which is another large cost, flat to down.

Really the majority of the EBITDA margin degradation can be attributed to the Green Valley Hotel disruption, which is probably almost half of that margin degradation. Then a few, you know, uncontrollable, such as we had elevated utilities costs this quarter, as well as loss and damages.

Great. Thank you for that. Just as a quick follow-up, any insight into hotel demand at the renovated Green Valley Ranch rooms or the business more broadly as we think about differentiating that hotel customer from the Strip's hotel customer that's facing some weakness right now?

This is Scott. Let me take the broad-based performance. We were really happy with the performance in the hotel for the overall brand. Now, you have to caveat that we had about 27,000 room nights offline or about 10% of our inventory at Green Valley Ranch. Given that we still were positive year-over-year in hotel revenue. The rest of the portfolio did a nice job of addressing some of the headwinds that Steve talked about with TSA issues, fuel prices, and then of course, those units being down. As far as the West Tower that is available, and the new banquet space, customer feedback, both from a transient customer and from a sales customer standpoint, has been phenomenal.

It's our view that those rooms are probably the nicest rooms in town right now from a competitive standpoint and a quality standpoint. We're seeing increased ADR growth as we expected out of refreshing those rooms. Really, the story for Green Valley Ranch is to get through the rest of the room remodel and, you know, call it late September to kick in to maximizing the full capital investment, where we've got all the rooms up and running and we've got the banquet space. We look forward to that happening soon. As far as the general health going forward, we like where we are in April relative to hotel.

You know, it's early in the summer booking window, if you kind of look at competitive set, let's call it on the 6, 60-day booking window, we are seeing green shoots in four and five-star hotel ADRs. We do like the fact that the Strip is addressing some of the tourism concerns around value. There's a lot of inclusive packages available in the market for that customer that's seeking value. We're optimistic about the summer, it's really early in the booking window to tell.

The next question will come from Brandt Montour with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. It's Chris off for Brandt. I just wanted to clarify on the seasonality from 1Q to 2Q. I just wanna make sure I heard that right. As you said, it was typically down 8%-9%. Then I appreciate the color on the 2Q disruption costs of $9 million at GVR and $2 million-$3 million at Durango. I just wanted, clarify, what was that in 1Q? I think last quarter you mentioned it was $9 million for GVR.

The clarification point, you did hear the seasonality right. Typically, going way, you know, going back that we are down eight to ten. Excuse me, 8%-9% between the first quarter and the second quarter. I forget. I'm sorry, I lost your second question again. My apologies.

I appreciate the color on the, on the 2Q disruption costs. How did that compare to 1Q for GVR and Durango?

1Q GVR was, we previously announced $9 million, and it came in pretty much spot on $9 million. Durango, despite, you know, seeing a lot of traffic disruption, the teams kind of managed through it to have just a marginal impact.

Thank you. Switching over to North Fork. Can you guys provide any color how you expect that property to ramp? I think in the past you had seen it potential it to be similar to Gun Lake.

Yeah, look, I think just optically looking at ramps, we're pretty good at understanding these traditionally. Each market has its own competitive pressure. Certainly, there are, you know, three competitive properties in the area. We expected in the early days that they might be promotionary in how they, you know, how they approach our opening. You know, we expect like the typical projects, it may take two years to ramp up and to really get the database acclimated and to grow that database. Given our location, given the quality of the product, and our knowledge of that kind of, call it, mid-California market and the team that we have there, we expect to do quite well.

Yeah. We'd expect the property to be profitable from day one. It's just a matter of fine-tuning it and growing the revenue base and, you know, managing the expenses on a go-forward basis. It's probably a little bit of a shorter ramp than, say, Las Vegas typical-.

Two years, maybe year and a half.

Typical Las Vegas casino.

I think so.

Yeah. Then, you know, I think we've articulated maybe several quarters ago that, you know, on stabilization, this is about a $40 million-$50 million revenue product for us.

Awesome. Thanks, guys.

The next question will come from Stephen Grambling with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Can you hear me?

We can, Stephen.

Great. Maybe a follow-up just on GVR and the room renovations. What does the total spend of somebody who's staying on property there kinda compare to the average? And when you're quantifying that disruption, is that purely the hotel revenue that's come out, or are you able to kinda decipher what other netting you can see if you, if you get that customer coming back somewhere else or getting other spend?

Yeah, you can actually, yeah, it's pretty much by the room. You can pretty much nail this. You know, from a disruption standpoint is, yeah, this is absolutely not an exact science.

It's room revenue and gaming revenue. It's composite revenue.

That's all. That's what I was gonna say.

Yeah.

It's, well, it's not an exact science when it comes to rooms. There's more science to it. Where Frank was getting to, it's a combination. A majority is gonna be room revenue, and then the second point is gonna be convention revenue and catering, right? You'd expect that given the rooms that are out and the catering spaces that are out. It's all the, you know, then there is a significant portion of food and beverage and gaming that are associated with those rooms.

Right. I guess you're including that in that disruption as part of that estimate because I guess what I'm trying to think through is as we bring those rooms back, I imagine that the higher spending customer, perhaps the benefit that you get is when it comes back should be theoretically much bigger than the disruption that you're describing.

Yes. That is.

Once we get it dialed in.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

That's right.

All right. That's it for me. Thank you.

The next question will come from Jordan Bender with Citizens. Please go ahead.

Hi, everyone. Afternoon. Thanks for the question. Steve, I wanna go back to the higher gas price comments. You kind of made it sound like April we're back to normal and the consumer is acting normal. Were those comments in March, you were seeing higher gas prices impact foot traffic into the casino? Or how should we think about that?

I mean, as I think, you know, as we kind of go through the progression of the quarter, right? January was strong, February was strong. March was impacted by everything you read in the news, which included some higher gas prices. We were very happy with the way April right now is tracking to be 1 of the best Aprils on record. So far gas, we haven't seen too much of an impact from higher gas prices.

Yeah, March was in no way. It wasn't a bad month, it was fine. We think it was affected.

By that.

... by gas, by the war, the uncertainty, as well as just the TSA situation was a bit untenable. Thank goodness it's over and behind us, at least it seems. For that two or three-week period, I think people just were hesitant to get on a commercial airline because they didn't want to wait in the airport for two to three hours to get on their flight. It definitely affected things, but in no way was it, you know, a bad performance month.

Got it. Thank you. The other part, the construction disruption that you're seeing around town, are you able to capture those players at other properties, you know, via your database, or are you just losing those visits from those players to specific properties?

This is Scott. Yeah, I think you hit it on the head. You know, we have quite a broad distribution of properties and very convenient drive times of each other, and we kind of call it crossover play. What we'll see is if we can't mitigate that disruption with the customer, they'll typically land in an adjacent property of ours. We watch that very closely from a database perspective as well. If we see decline in any, you know, known customer, we certainly have programs to address that.

Thanks, everyone.

The next question will come from Chad Beynon with Macquarie. Please go ahead.

Hi, good afternoon. You mentioned that you're starting to do some of the early work on additional greenfield projects. With the outlined CapEx that you have going on over the next 18 months and the current leverage, what's the maximum leverage that you'd be comfortable levering up against in this market?

As we kind of articulate right now, we're about 4.07 times. Balance sheet is, you know, we feel is very strong. Interest expense has come down for the past, you know, four quarters in a row right now. There's no short-term maturities, the credit agreement is incredibly flexible. As we said in the past, you know, the past, Chad, that, you know, while we'd love, we'd love to keep maintaining leverage on around four for the right opportunities that we would spike leverage up. I think, you know, once you start topping five, that's really where you start kinda, you start getting a little concerned.

During a project.

[CROSSTALK] During a project.

We have North Fork coming on. We have a note receivable from North Fork around $80 million. We expect that thing to be profitable from the day that we open it up. We're gonna continue to have some of these new investments come online where we're upgrading the properties we have at Sunset, Green Valley.

That's right.

et cetera.

Durango.

Durango.

Durango.

Coming online obviously towards the back end of summer. Like Frank said, our expectation is that we'll be getting return on the capital that's currently in the ground. Our expectation is that EBITDA will grow. You know, we're gonna make a decision on what property or what project is next and how we're gonna layer these things in. I think we're very comfortable with.

Four times.

... you know, [CROSSTALK] while you're in construction and, you know, knowing that as you're investing in new assets, you're gonna generate new EBITDA, which is gonna, you know, once they open, obviously get you back in line to where you wanna be long term.

Okay. Yep, that makes sense. Thank you. You kinda touched on this a little bit with the database and what's going on the Strip with some of the all-inclusive deals. Are you starting to see Strip operators start to market locals in a way that we haven't seen, you know, for several years, whether it's slot credits or, hotel rooms or, anything else that could increase the promotional or competition, landscape in the near term?

Yeah. We don't see anything that would cause us to change what we're doing or expect that it was anything different than what's happened in the past.

Strip operators historically have always taken a shot at locals.

Of course.

Some maybe with more success than others, nothing has necessarily changed that I've seen. You haven't seen anything, Scott, right?

No.

Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

The next question will come from David Katz with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. You know, heard some earlier this week commentary from, you know, a hospitality company on a little bit of change in the K-shaped recovery and seeing some, you know, strength on the lower end, which has shown up in some of the hospitality numbers. Are you seeing anything like that? Because it, it's as though we've talked about the bottom of your database, you know, being a little pressured for quite a while.

I think the, I think the place to look for any kind of change there is in the absolute discretionary. If you look at eating out, you know, I'll reference food and beverage and entertainment. We had a great quarter. You know, we were up year-over-year. We increased cover count, we increased average check. Overall revenue and profit in food and beverage is up and, you know, to me, that's probably one of the more absolute discretionary items in our business, and it's kind of a bellwether for us as to the health of that customer. Like Stephen said, we had a record gaming quarter, so they're also here playing slots and other, you know, gaming, casino games. Right now, it looks healthy.

Yeah, it's not that our low end has been under pressure for a while. It's that post-COVID, we changed our business model and we've really reinvested in high-limit slot rooms, high-limit table games. We're not in the promotion business anymore. You know, we're relying on our best-in-class locations, best-in-class buildings, having the best employees to take care of the guests. It's just, you know, it's been a pivot from what used to be a very promotional market. It's just where our focus is. It's not that it's under pressure.

Yeah. Understood.

I think that, you know, saying that a customer is basically, you know, doesn't have the discretionary income is probably not the way we look at it. We do have customers that seek value. It's kind of a bit of a magic recipe as to how to provide what a customer perceives as value based on their demographic tier. We think we do a really good job offering a value to just about every demographic in the spectrum.

Yeah. The art is having a high-end steakhouse under the same roof that you're serving a $1.99 margaritas and balancing that, you know.

That you appeal to all the segments,

right, in the market demographically.

The one thing that we've done is try to provide a lot of value propositions for the repeat local customers and give them real value. I think we do a better job at that than anyone else in the market.

Understood. If I can just follow up quickly. Do you are you seeing anything or can you talk to, you know, destination, you know, volumes that, you know, impact the business? I, you know, it's probably not the core, but on the margin, you know, is there any notable impact or trends you can cite?

Well, look, I think the most finite place and measurable place to look is in our database out of town. Our database out of town, I don't know how many quarters it's been, Steve, but we are incredibly consistently growing that national and regional segment of our database, inclusive of the first quarter. It continues to be an area of opportunity and growth for us. At least 10. 10 quarters, Scott.

Thank you.

The next question will come from Steve Pizzella with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Hey, good afternoon, and thank you for taking our questions. First, maybe we can get an update on what you're seeing in the promotional environment.

Stable. You know, I think just as we've said in previous earnings calls, you know, you do have the single proprietor, one-off casinos that their kind of core DNA is to be a bit promotional, but nothing's changed there. The market continues to be very stable, and we don't intend on changing any of our current strategies as a result of anything we're seeing.

Okay, great. Just as a follow-up, curious if the World Cup has had a material impact in the past from a visitation perspective for you guys at your properties?

The World Cup's unique this year, and we really got ahead of it. The fact that of where it's located, the time slots for viewing and the number of games creates a great opportunity. We have the best race and sportsbook experiences in town. Customers know to come to our books for that kind of communal viewing experience. The operating teams have a very comprehensive plan to put our best foot forward during the World Cup.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

This will conclude our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Stephen Cootey for any closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Well, thank you everyone for joining us. Take care.

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.