Caesars Entertainment Inc (CZR) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Caesars Entertainment Inc. 2022 Second Quarter Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Brian Agnew, Senior Vice President of Finance, Treasury and Investor Relations. You may begin.

女士們，先生們，感謝您的支持，歡迎參加 Caesars Entertainment Inc. 2022 年第二季度財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）我現在想將電話轉給您的主持人，財務、財務和投資者關係高級副總裁 Brian Agnew。你可以開始了。

Thank you, Kevin, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. Welcome to our conference call to discuss our second quarter 2022 earnings. This afternoon, we issued a press release announcing our financial results for the period ended June 30, 2022. A copy of the press release is available on the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.caesars.com. Joining me on the call today are Tom Reeg, our CEO; Anthony Carano, our President and Chief Operating Officer. Bret Yunker, our Chief Financial Officer; and Eric Hession, Co-President, Caesars Sports and Online Gaming.

謝謝你，凱文，大家下午好。歡迎參加我們的電話會議，討論我們 2022 年第二季度的收益。今天下午，我們發布了一份新聞稿，宣布了我們截至 2022 年 6 月 30 日期間的財務業績。該新聞稿的副本可在我們網站investor.caesars.com 的投資者關係部分獲取。今天和我一起參加電話會議的是我們的首席執行官 Tom Reeg。我們的總裁兼首席運營官安東尼·卡拉諾。 Bret Yunker，我們的首席財務官；凱撒體育和在線遊戲聯合總裁 Eric Hession。

Before I turn the call over to Anthony, I would like to remind you that during today's conference call, we may make certain forward-looking statements about the company's performance. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, one should not place undue reliance on them.

在我把電話轉給安東尼之前，我想提醒你，在今天的電話會議中，我們可能會對公司的業績做出某些前瞻性陳述。此類前瞻性陳述並非對未來業績的保證，因此，不應過分依賴它們。

Forward-looking statements are also subject to the inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. For additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in our forward-looking statements, please refer to the cautionary statements contained in our press release as well as the risk factors contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

前瞻性陳述也受到固有風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與所表達的結果大不相同。有關可能導致實際結果與我們的前瞻性聲明中討論的結果不同的因素的更多信息，請參閱我們新聞稿中包含的警示性聲明以及公司向證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含的風險因素.

Caesars Entertainment undertakes no obligation to revise or update any of our forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after today's call. Also during today's call, the company may discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. The GAAP financial measures most directly comparable to each non-GAAP financial measure discussed and the reconciliation of the differences between each non-GAAP financial measure and the comparable GAAP financial measure can be found on the company's website at investor.caesars.com, by selecting the press release regarding the company's 2022 second quarter financial results. I will now turn the call over to Anthony Carano.

Caesars Entertainment 不承擔修改或更新我們的任何前瞻性陳述以反映今天電話會議後發生的事件或情況的義務。同樣在今天的電話會議中，公司可能會討論 SEC 條例 G 定義的某些非 GAAP 財務指標。GAAP 財務指標與所討論的每個非 GAAP 財務指標最直接可比，以及每個非 GAAP 財務指標之間差異的調節通過選擇有關公司 2022 年第二季度財務業績的新聞稿，可以在公司網站 Investor.caesars.com 上找到可比的 GAAP 財務指標。我現在將把電話轉給安東尼卡拉諾。

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. Our second quarter was a record quarter for our consolidated property portfolio. Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter, excluding Caesars Digital, was $1.05 billion, versus $1.01 billion last year. Our Las Vegas segment delivered an all-time quarterly EBITDA record of $547 million, with revenues up 34% year-over-year. Our Regional segment delivered same-store adjusted EBITDA of $513 million, up 24% versus Q2 of '19. Caesars Digital reported a $69 million adjusted EBITDA loss, which was a dramatic improvement versus the first quarter of this year.

謝謝你，Brian，大家下午好。我們的第二季度是我們綜合房地產投資組合的創紀錄季度。不包括 Caesars Digital 的第二季度調整後 EBITDA 為 10.5 億美元，而去年為 10.1 億美元。我們的拉斯維加斯分部實現了 5.47 億美元的季度 EBITDA 歷史記錄，收入同比增長 34%。我們的區域部門實現了 5.13 億美元的同店調整後 EBITDA，與 19 年第二季度相比增長了 24%。 Caesars Digital 報告了 6900 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA 虧損，與今年第一季度相比有了顯著改善。

In our Las Vegas segment, all areas of the business combined to contribute to the record EBITDA quarter. Excluding real rent payments, our Las Vegas segment generated EBITDA of $558 million and a 49% EBITDA margin. Occupancy improved significantly, reaching 97% as a result of strong demand and our ability to lift self-imposed occupancy caps. Strong occupancy when combined with the record ADR, resulted in the highest quarterly room hotel revenues for our Las Vegas segment in company history. Group and convention also posted an all-time quarterly EBITDA record, led by the strong performance of the CAESARS FORUM.

在我們的拉斯維加斯分部，所有業務領域共同為創紀錄的 EBITDA 季度做出了貢獻。不計實際租金，我們的拉斯維加斯分部產生了 5.58 億美元的 EBITDA 和 49% 的 EBITDA 利潤率。由於強勁的需求和我們提高自行設定的入住率上限的能力，入住率顯著提高，達到 97%。強勁的入住率與創紀錄的 ADR 相結合，為我們的拉斯維加斯部門創造了公司歷史上最高的季度客房酒店收入。在 CAESARS FORUM 的強勁表現的帶動下，集團和會議也創下了季度 EBITDA 的歷史新高。

Group room nights during Q2 '22 represented approximately 13% of occupied room nights in Las Vegas, up from 11% in the second half of '21. Forward group revenue pace for the remainder of the year and into '23 is up over double digits versus 2019. Our Vegas F&B operations delivered record profit during the quarter as well. And finally, results in our 55-plus segment, Las Vegas were up for the first time over 2019 since COVID began, and we're beginning to see a noticeable return to the market from international travelers. In the Regional markets, while results were down versus last year, operating results remained strong, especially versus 2019.

22 年第二季度的團體房晚約佔拉斯維加斯入住房晚的 13%，高於 21 年下半年的 11%。與 2019 年相比，今年剩餘時間和 23 年的集團收入增長速度超過兩位數。我們的維加斯餐飲業務在本季度也實現了創紀錄的利潤。最後，在我們 55 歲以上的細分市場中，拉斯維加斯自 COVID 開始以來首次在 2019 年上漲，我們開始看到國際旅行者明顯重返市場。在區域市場，雖然業績與去年相比有所下降，但經營業績依然強勁，尤其是與 2019 年相比。

Reported EBITDA of $513 million was up 24% to Q2 of '19 and up 29% when excluding impacts from the Lake Charles closure and construction disruption at Caesars Atlantic City. EBITDA margins improved 50 basis points to 36% on a same-store basis versus Q2 of '19, excluding Lake Charles and Caesars AC. July operating trends in our Regional segment remained consistent with the trends we have seen post COVID. Our capital program remains largely unchanged. 90% of our room remodel programs in Atlantic City is now complete, and we look forward to several exciting food and beverage concepts opening in October and November.

報告的 EBITDA 為 5.13 億美元，與 19 年第二季度相比增長了 24%，如果不包括查爾斯湖關閉和凱撒大西洋城的施工中斷的影響，則增長了 29%。與 19 年第二季度相比，同店 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 50 個基點至 36%，不包括 Lake Charles 和 Caesars AC。我們區域部門 7 月份的運營趨勢與我們在 COVID 之後看到的趨勢保持一致。我們的資本計劃基本保持不變。我們在大西洋城 90% 的房間改造計劃現已完成，我們期待在 10 月和 11 月推出幾個令人興奮的餐飲概念。

Our land-based facility in Lake Charles is set to open in December and so is our expanded casino offering in Pompano. We expect to break ground on Caesars Danville in Virginia, Harrahs' Columbus in Nebraska and our casino expansion for Harrah's Hoosier Park during this quarter. Lastly, construction on our new hotel tower and additional amenities at our New Orleans property is progressing well with the new Sportsbook and poker rooms set to open Labor Day weekend. These are all exciting projects that will generate a meaningful return on the investment for our company. As we look to the remainder of '22, we remain optimistic about our business as consumer trends remain healthy, especially versus 2019.

我們在查爾斯湖的陸上設施將於 12 月開放，我們在龐帕諾的擴展賭場也將開放。我們預計本季度將在弗吉尼亞州的 Caesars Danville、內布拉斯加州的 Harrahs' Columbus 以及我們對 Harrah's Hoosier Park 的賭場擴建項目破土動工。最後，我們新奧爾良酒店的新酒店大樓和其他設施的建設進展順利，新的體育博彩和撲克室將在勞動節週末開放。這些都是令人興奮的項目，將為我們公司帶來有意義的投資回報。當我們展望 22 年的剩餘時間時，我們仍然對我們的業務保持樂觀，因為消費者趨勢保持健康，尤其是與 2019 年相比。

As we mentioned last quarter, we remain encouraged regarding improving group and convention trends in Las Vegas, the return of the international consumer as well as the potential for the full recovery of our older demographic consumer, which has been the most impacted to COVID-19. I want to thank all of our team members for their hard work in 2022 so far. I'm extremely proud of our operating teams, their execution and their exceptional guest service. With that, I will now turn the call over to Eric Hession for some insights on the second quarter performance in our Digital segment.

正如我們上個季度提到的，我們仍然對改善拉斯維加斯的團體和會議趨勢、國際消費者的回歸以及我們受 COVID-19 影響最大的老年消費者全面復甦的潛力感到鼓舞.我要感謝我們所有的團隊成員，他們在 2022 年迄今為止的辛勤工作。我為我們的運營團隊、他們的執行力和卓越的賓客服務感到非常自豪。有了這個，我現在將把電話轉給 Eric Hession，以獲取有關我們數字部門第二季度業績的一些見解。

Thanks, Anthony. The financial performance of our digital business improved significantly in the second quarter, both on a revenue and an adjusted EBITDA loss basis when compared to the first quarter of this year. As Tom previewed on our last earnings call, our strong gains in unaided brand awareness have allowed us to scale back our brand-related marketing spend. That reduction in combination with the reduced promotional investment environment translated into steadily improving results throughout the quarter. As we look to the back half of the year, we expect to add a number of significant product enhancements for our customers in key areas such as cash out speed, customer service and parlay and alternative line offerings.

謝謝，安東尼。與今年第一季度相比，我們數字業務的財務業績在第二季度顯著改善，無論是在收入還是調整後的 EBITDA 虧損基礎上。正如湯姆在我們上次的財報電話會議上所預測的那樣，我們在獨立品牌知名度方面的強勁增長使我們能夠縮減與品牌相關的營銷支出。這種減少與減少的促銷投資環境相結合，轉化為整個季度穩步改善的結果。展望今年下半年，我們預計將在提現速度、客戶服務、分紅和替代線路產品等關鍵領域為我們的客戶增加許多重要的產品增強功能。

We also anticipate converting all of our Caesars' branded apps and sportsbooks to our Liberty tech stack by the end of 2022, greatly enhancing the customer experience. In addition, our marketing teams will have new and enhanced ways to deliver offers and promotions to customers, ensuring that they receive them in the most cost-effective way.

我們還預計到 2022 年底將我們所有的 Caesars 品牌應用程序和體育博彩轉換為我們的 Liberty 技術堆棧，從而大大提升客戶體驗。此外，我們的營銷團隊將採用新的和增強的方式向客戶提供優惠和促銷活動，確保他們以最具成本效益的方式獲得優惠。

We continue to believe that scale is important for our digital sports betting and iCasino and poker offerings and pending regulatory approvals, plan to expand into states and jurisdictions where allowed. We currently offer sports betting in 25 North American jurisdictions, 18 of which are mobile. IGaming is currently live in 5 jurisdictions, while poker is in 4.

我們仍然認為，規模對於我們的數字體育博彩、iCasino 和撲克產品以及等待監管部門的批准非常重要，併計劃在允許的情況下擴展到州和司法管轄區。我們目前在 25 個北美司法管轄區提供體育博彩，其中 18 個是移動的。 IGaming 目前在 5 個司法管轄區，而撲克在 4 個。

As a result, we will continue to remain focused on growth through new state launches, investing from a tech perspective on product enhancements and remaining acutely focused on our expenses. I'll now turn the call over to Bret Yunker, our CFO.

因此，我們將繼續通過新的州發布繼續專注於增長，從技術角度投資於產品改進，並繼續高度關注我們的開支。我現在將把電話轉給我們的首席財務官 Bret Yunker。

Thanks, Eric. Second quarter was outstanding from an operating perspective. And if you look back at the past 18 months, we've now reduced debt by $2 billion alongside acquiring and standing up our Digital business. Our most recent debt reduction came from $730 million of proceeds from the sale of William Hill's International business, $100 million of that was executed through open market debt repurchases below par. The other $630 million were applied to our 2025 term B that happened in July. We continue to produce strong free cash flow with an expectation to reduce debt further in the back half of 2022. I'll turn it over to Tom.

謝謝，埃里克。從運營角度來看，第二季度表現出色。如果你回顧過去的 18 個月，我們現在已經減少了 20 億美元的債務，同時收購併鞏固了我們的數字業務。我們最近的債務削減來自出售威廉希爾國際業務的 7.3 億美元收益，其中 1 億美元是通過低於面值的公開市場債務回購執行的。其他 6.3 億美元用於 7 月發生的 2025 年 B 期。我們繼續產生強勁的自由現金流，預計在 2022 年下半年進一步減少債務。我會把它交給湯姆。

Thanks, Bret. I'm going to provide some more color on the quarter where we are now and some conversations that I've had with investors over the last 30 to 60 days. Starting in Las Vegas, $558 million of EBITDA free the real lease payment is up almost 10% over the prior record in Vegas, which was last year's third quarter also post merger. Vegas, coming into the quarter, the monthly cash revenue -- hotel revenue record in Vegas was $91 million. We exceeded that in April, May and June, and we're on pace in 2022 to generate over $1 billion in cash room revenue in Vegas for the first time.

謝謝，布雷特。我將為我們現在所在的季度提供更多色彩，以及我在過去 30 到 60 天內與投資者進行的一些對話。從拉斯維加斯開始，5.58 億美元的 EBITDA 免費實際租賃付款比拉斯維加斯之前的記錄增長了近 10%，這是去年第三季度也是合併後的記錄。拉斯維加斯，進入本季度，每月現金收入——拉斯維加斯的酒店收入記錄為 9100 萬美元。我們在 4 月、5 月和 6 月超過了這一數字，我們有望在 2022 年首次在拉斯維加斯產生超過 10 億美元的現金室收入。

Group business has come back extremely strong. We're seeing wash rates at or below historical levels as the pent-up demand for business travel start to happen itself in Vegas. That was about a $200 million EBITDA business in the prior Caesars pre-foreign convention center. We're pacing about 40% above that as we sit here today. So obviously, with the addition of FORUM, which was not in operation pre-pandemic, but extremely strong results for us. The strength in Vegas has continued into the third quarter. You should expect to see kind of normal seasonality in August when it's just a little cooler than the surface of the sun.

集團業務強勢回歸。隨著對商務旅行的被壓抑的需求開始在拉斯維加斯發生，我們看到洗滌率處於或低於歷史水平。在之前的 Caesars 前外國會議中心，這大約是 2 億美元的 EBITDA 業務。當我們今天坐在這裡時，我們的步伐比這高出約 40%。所以很明顯，隨著 FORUM 的加入，它並沒有在大流行前開始運作，但對我們來說卻是非常強大的結果。拉斯維加斯的強勢一直持續到第三季度。您應該期望在 8 月看到一種正常的季節性，那時它只比太陽表面涼爽一點。

You should see -- expect to see occupancy track back to the mid-90s from the high 90s, but we'd expect to be back in the high 90s September and beyond, and that's what our forward bookings show us.

您應該看到 - 預計入住率會從 90 年代高位回到 90 年代中期，但我們預計會在 9 月及以後回到 90 年代中期，這就是我們的遠期預訂向我們展示的。

So Sean McBurney and his team in Vegas have done an absolutely fantastic job. We've done all of this with Caesars Palace torn up for most of the year with our front entrance work. That finishes in September. So in this quarter, we should be pretty well done with everything you've seen at the front entrance of Caesars, which should eliminate construction disruption there.

所以 Sean McBurney 和他在維加斯的團隊做得非常出色。我們已經完成了所有這一切，因為我們的正門工作在一年中的大部分時間裡都被撕毀了凱撒宮。 9 月結束。因此，在本季度，您在 Caesars 正門看到的一切都應該做得很好，這應該可以消除那裡的施工中斷。

We've opened Vanderpump and Nobu and Paris. And I'll be out for the Martha Stewart restaurant opening in a couple of weeks in Paris. So that property is transforming as well. So we're extremely excited about that. If you move to regionals, you still have the drag in Atlantic City. Caesars, in particular, is under heavy construction as you might be hearing from numerous others. In a number of industries, it's difficult to bring in your construction projects on time, given supply chain issues. So we were hopeful that all that would have been done prior to 4th of July, the bulk of it should be done by the end of August.

我們已經開設了 Vanderpump、Nobu 和 Paris。幾週後我會去參加在巴黎開業的瑪莎斯圖爾特餐廳。因此，該屬性也在發生變化。所以我們對此感到非常興奮。如果你搬到地區，你仍然會在大西洋城受到拖累。尤其是凱撒，正如您可能從許多其他人那裡聽到的那樣，正在建設中。在許多行業，鑑於供應鏈問題，很難按時引入您的建設項目。所以我們希望在 7 月 4 日之前完成所有工作，其中大部分應該在 8 月底之前完成。

So you're seeing -- you should see Atlantic City numbers start to firm up. New Orleans is starting to track back toward where it was before, but still is a laggard among the regionals. And then Lake Charles will open before the end of the year. Remember that's about a $15 million LTM EBITDA drag, should be something north of a $65 million LTM swing once it opens. So we're excited about that. We've got it on the Atlantic City projects coming online. We've got Horseshoe, Indianapolis and is less than a year into it and Hoosier Park with a similar table expansion, should come online towards the end of the year.

所以你看到了——你應該看到大西洋城的數字開始堅挺。新奧爾良開始回到以前的位置，但在地區性中仍然落後。然後查爾斯湖將在年底前開放。請記住，這大約是 1500 萬美元的 LTM EBITDA 拖累，一旦打開，應該會超過 6500 萬美元的 LTM 波動。所以我們對此感到興奮。我們已經在即將上線的大西洋城項目上得到了它。我們有印第安納波利斯的馬蹄鐵，而且還不到一年的時間，而擁有類似桌子擴展的 Hoosier Park 應該會在今年年底上線。

So we're excited about the dollars that we've got out there and the returns that we're going to get on them. In terms of brick-and-mortar, obviously, there's a lot of discussion about the broader economic picture. My first point would be we've done what we've done in 2 consecutive quarters of falling DP. The average recession since the depression, I think, is 10 months. So we're hoping that we're -- for the end of this current environment. But the consumer continues to hold up quite well for us. We've seen unrated play that has softened offset by strength in rated play particularly at the higher end of our database.

因此，我們對我們已經獲得的美元以及我們將獲得的回報感到興奮。顯然，就實體店而言，有很多關於更廣泛的經濟前景的討論。我的第一點是我們已經完成了我們在連續兩個季度下降的 DP 中所做的事情。我認為，自大蕭條以來的平均衰退是 10 個月。因此，我們希望我們能夠結束當前的環境。但是消費者對我們來說仍然保持得很好。我們已經看到未評級的比賽已經被評級比賽的實力所抵消，特別是在我們數據庫的高端。

We've seen international come back to Vegas really in the last 4 weeks, so we're excited about that. And obviously, the stimulus checks were a boom in last year's second quarter and early in the third. But July for us was -- July of '21 was our best month ever, and we're neck and neck with that in '22.

在過去的 4 周里，我們已經看到國際球員真的回到了維加斯，所以我們對此感到很興奮。顯然，刺激檢查在去年第二季度和第三季度初是繁榮的。但對我們來說，7 月是——21 年的 7 月是我們有史以來最好的月份，我們與 22 年的情況並駕齊驅。

Particularly harder to talk about Digital. Obviously, that's been a topic of conversation for a number of quarters. If you'll recall, we headed into last -- we closed the William Hill deal 100 days before the opening kickoff of NFL season. And when you do a U.K. acquisition, there's no prepping before close.

尤其難以談論數字。顯然，這是幾個季度以來的話題。如果你還記得的話，我們進入了最後——我們在 NFL 賽季開幕前 100 天完成了威廉希爾的交易。而且，當您在英國進行收購時，無需在收盤前做任何準備。

You start from a standing start on day 1. Eric Hession, Chris Holdren, their team did a great job of standing up the app, getting our brand out there and making us competitive out of the box.

您從第 1 天的正常起步開始。Eric Hession、Chris Holdren，他們的團隊在支持應用程序方面做得非常出色，讓我們的品牌脫穎而出，讓我們開箱即用。

As I said on the last call, we got to about 15% nationwide handle share, again, both states that we're in, states that we're not in. And our unaided awareness got to a point where we were comfortable pulling back on advertising spend. So we have pulled a planned hundreds of millions of dollars that we were planning to spend. We don't think our competitors have followed us, they're still spending. And our share has been stable. And if you look at our losses in the second quarter, each month improved on the month before. So May was a smaller loss than April. June was a smaller loss than May.

正如我在上次電話會議上所說的那樣，我們再次獲得了大約 15% 的全國處理份額，我們所在的兩個州，我們不在的州。我們的獨立意識達到了我們可以輕鬆撤退的地步關於廣告支出。所以我們已經提取了我們計劃花費的數億美元。我們認為我們的競爭對手沒有跟隨我們，他們仍在消費。我們的份額一直很穩定。如果你看看我們在第二季度的損失，每個月都比前一個月有所改善。因此，5 月的損失比 4 月小。 6 月的損失小於 5 月。

Obviously, we finished second quarter -- sorry, we finished July, 2 days ago, so I'm talking about preliminary numbers, but Digital for July was nearly breakeven for the company.

顯然，我們完成了第二季度——抱歉，我們在 2 天前完成了 7 月，所以我說的是初步數字，但 7 月的數字對於公司來說幾乎是盈虧平衡的。

So I would expect as we get into football season, which is clearly our acquisition period in this business, you're going to see some modest losses return as we acquire new customers. But given that we damn near turned profitable in July, I'm extremely confident that we will be a profitable business at least by the fourth quarter of '23. And I view that business as we have made that -- I told you it was $1 billion through last quarter.

因此，我預計隨著我們進入足球賽季，這顯然是我們在這項業務中的收購期，隨著我們獲得新客戶，你會看到一些適度的虧損回歸。但鑑於我們該死的在 7 月份幾乎實現盈利，我非常有信心至少到 23 年第四季度我們將成為一家盈利的企業。而且我認為我們所做的業務 - 我告訴你到上個季度它是 10 億美元。

So you've got to add the $69 million of losses in this quarter. I told you in last quarter's call that I'd expect us to end up at about $1.5 billion of cumulative EBITDA losses. It doesn't look like we will get near that $1.5 billion, the way the business is performing now. And so we are -- we want to prove the concept. We've proved we could carve out a significant piece of the business. Now we want to prove we can make a profit, and then we'll talk about fighting for additional share on the other side of that. But we are extraordinarily pleased with where Digital is in a short period of time and really excited about this football season where we come in with our legs under us rather than running as fast as we can to keep up.

因此，您必須加上本季度 6900 萬美元的損失。我在上個季度的電話會議中告訴過你，我預計我們最終的累計 EBITDA 虧損約為 15 億美元。看起來我們不會像現在的業務表現那樣接近 15 億美元。所以我們 - 我們想要證明這個概念。我們已經證明我們可以開拓業務的重要部分。現在我們想證明我們可以盈利，然後我們將討論在另一邊爭取額外的份額。但是我們對 Digital 在短時間內所處的位置感到非常滿意，並且對這個足球賽季感到非常興奮，在這個足球賽季中，我們的雙腿在我們身下，而不是盡可能快地跟上。

So the last piece I want to touch on is leverage, which is a popular topic these days. We have a long track record. We do an acquisition and then we delever. And Bret has told you, while we were standing up Digital with those $1 billion of EBITDA losses in the trailing 12 months, we paid down $2 billion of debt. We expect to continue to pay down debt. If you look at this quarter, even with the Digital loss, we're at about $1 billion of EBITDA. We've got -- we have some capital that's coming online, some returns that are coming online. The Digital business continues to improve. So if you just use -- and to be clear, I'm not giving any guidance.

所以我想談的最後一點是槓桿，這是最近很流行的話題。我們有很長的記錄。我們進行收購，然後進行去槓桿化。 Bret 告訴過你，雖然我們在過去 12 個月中以 10 億美元的 EBITDA 虧損支持 Digital，但我們還清了 20 億美元的債務。我們預計將繼續償還債務。如果你看一下本季度，即使有數字虧損，我們的 EBITDA 也約為 10 億美元。我們有——我們有一些正在上線的資本，一些正在上線的回報。數字業務持續改善。因此，如果您只是使用 - 並且要清楚，我不會提供任何指導。

I'm looking at this quarter. If you look at a $4 billion business, our net debt -- lease adjusted debt is a little under $22 billion. So we're under 5.5x levered today. We're generating somewhere between $1.5 billion to $1.75 billion of free cash flow. Now a lot of that is going into growth capital for the time being. But if you think about a recession, of course, you've seen how we behave in a recession, you saw how we behave in a pandemic. The growth capital would start to shut off. But if you look at prior recessions, you're looking at a business that should be mid- to high single-digit revenue declines at worst in Regional, less in Vegas with what's going on now.

我在看這個季度。如果你看看一個 40 億美元的業務，我們的淨債務——租賃調整後的債務略低於 220 億美元。所以我們今天的槓桿率低於 5.5 倍。我們正在產生 15 億至 17.5 億美元的自由現金流。現在，其中很大一部分暫時進入了增長資本。但是，如果您考慮衰退，當然，您已經看到了我們在衰退中的表現，您看到了我們在大流行中的表現。增長資本將開始關閉。但是，如果您查看之前的經濟衰退，您會看到一個企業，在最壞的情況下，該企業的收入應該是中高個位數的下降，而在拉斯維加斯的情況下，現在正在發生的事情更少。

If you run that at a 50% flow-through, we're still doing about $1 billion of free cash flow a year. So we feel very good about where we are leverage-wise. As you know, we have an ongoing sales process for the Vegas strip asset that's governed by the VICI agreements and ends about another month to run. So I'm not going to provide play by play there, but know that we are in very good shape, balance sheet-wise. We would like to collapse the CRC bucket for those of you who follow our debt into our parent company.

如果你以 50% 的流通率運行，我們每年仍然有大約 10 億美元的自由現金流。因此，我們對自己在槓桿方面的優勢感到非常滿意。如您所知，我們有一個持續的拉斯維加斯大道資產銷售流程，該流程受 VICI 協議的約束，並在大約一個月的時間內結束。所以我不會在那裡逐個提供比賽，但要知道我們的狀態非常好，資產負債表方面。對於那些追隨我們的債務進入母公司的人，我們想為你們中的那些人倒下 CRC 桶。

You should expect that we'd be exploring that as soon as the markets open up, and we'll be kicking maturities out as well. So we don't -- for all the hand-wringing about leverage and balance sheet all of a sudden, we really don't stress about that at all. We feel very good about the position we're in and where we're headed going forward. So those are my prepared remarks, let me flip it to the operator for questions.

您應該期望，一旦市場開放，我們就會對此進行探索，並且我們也會將到期日剔除。所以我們不會——儘管突然間對槓桿和資產負債表感到不安，但我們真的一點也不擔心。我們對自己所處的位置以及前進的方向感覺非常好。所以這些是我準備的評論，讓我把它翻給接線員提問。

(Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from Carlos Santarelli with Deutsche Bank.

（操作員說明）。我們的第一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Carlos Santarelli。

Tom, could you just talk a little bit about, obviously, the decline in Digital spend was significant. And I know during the last quarter, you spent considerable time kind of talking about what we would and what we're seeing on TV and in advertisements. As you guys make your transition now towards a profitable breakeven business that's sustainable going forward, where does kind of that advertising bucket lie in terms of the aggregate spend? Is that just something now that kind of run rate where it is? Or will we see incremental stuff that might have been contracted for extended periods of time to fall away as we move forward?

湯姆，你能不能稍微談談，顯然，數字支出的下降是顯著的。而且我知道在上個季度，您花了相當多的時間談論我們會做什麼以及我們在電視和廣告中看到的內容。隨著你們現在向可持續發展的盈利盈虧平衡業務過渡，就總支出而言，這種廣告桶在哪裡？這只是現在的那種運行速度嗎？或者，隨著我們的前進，我們是否會看到可能已經在很長一段時間內收縮的增量內容消失了？

Thanks, Carlo. So you'll see this fall, if you're watching TV, part of our ESPN deal includes advertising buys. So you'll see some commercials largely on ESPN, and you'll see some local -- ads that run locally as well. And then you'll see a little bit in iGaming as we -- as that product gets toward where we're comfortable with moving customers on to our app. So you'll see -- I mean, compared to last fall, it's going to seem like we've left the year entirely, but you will run into a commercial or 2 depending on where you are and what you're watching.

謝謝，卡羅。所以你會在今年秋天看到，如果你正在看電視，我們的 ESPN 交易的一部分包括廣告購買。所以你會看到一些主要在 ESPN 上的廣告，你會看到一些本地的——也可以在本地運行的廣告。然後你會在我們的 iGaming 中看到一點點——隨著該產品走向我們願意將客戶轉移到我們的應用程序的地方。所以你會看到 - 我的意思是，與去年秋天相比，我們似乎已經完全離開了這一年，但你會遇到一兩個商業廣告，這取決於你在哪里以及你在看什麼。

Okay. Great. And then just as a follow-up. Tom, if I look at the Regional markets in general, could you kind of talk a little bit about what you're seeing out there? Obviously, we see plenty of GGR. And that's been [shorting] relative to 2021, just given the difficulty in comparisons. But from a promotional standpoint, are you seeing any behavior that's any different than what we've seen over the last couple of months, quarters?

好的。偉大的。然後只是作為後續行動。湯姆，如果我看一下整個區域市場，你能談談你在那裡看到的情況嗎？顯然，我們看到了大量的 GGR。只是考慮到比較的困難，相對於 2021 年，這一直是[做空]。但是從促銷的角度來看，您是否看到任何與我們在過去幾個月、幾個季度中看到的不同的行為？

Nothing that's material to our business. I described the regional business as everybody had more money in his or her pocket a year ago from the transfer payments from the government. So that's both unrated play, that's -- softness of some of that business has disappeared. That's also rated play that played up last year versus historical levels. But we are quite comfortable that we should be running, let's call it, well into double digits, above 19% EBITDA in regional. And regional margins should be up 600, 700, 800 basis points from pre-pandemic.

沒有什麼對我們的業務重要。我將區域業務描述為一年前每個人的口袋裡都有更多的錢來自政府的轉移支付。所以這都是未評級的遊戲，那是 - 一些業務的軟性已經消失。這也是去年與歷史水平相比的評分。但是我們很高興我們應該運行，讓我們稱之為兩位數，在區域 EBITDA 上超過 19%。區域利潤率應該比大流行前增加 600、700、800 個基點。

So I would call that kind of the new normal as it were in this environment where you don't have that little bit of a bubble that you had last year. And this is part of what drove the Caesars acquisition for us, right? You remember when we were 2 markets, and if something happened in 1 of those 2 markets, it was a problem for the company. We wanted to become more and more diversified. Now we're more diversified than anybody out there domestically. And what we saw is last year, Regionals carried Vegas, when Vegas was struggling with people getting on planes and with virus-related restrictions.

因此，我將這種新常態稱為這種新常態，因為在這種環境中，你沒有去年的泡沫。這也是我們收購 Caesars 的部分原因，對吧？你記得當我們是兩個市場的時候，如果這兩個市場中的一個發生了什麼事，這對公司來說是個問題。我們希望變得越來越多元化。現在我們比國內的任何人都更加多元化。我們看到的是去年，Regionals 舉辦了維加斯，當時維加斯正在努力應對人們上飛機和與病毒相關的限制。

And what you're seeing this year is regionals aren't quite as strong as they were last year, but Vegas is picking up the slack. So it's doing -- it's working as we -- as it was designed when we put the company together.

你今年看到的是區域性的不如去年那麼強大，但維加斯正在收拾殘局。所以它正在做 - 它正在像我們一樣工作 - 正如我們組建公司時設計的那樣。

And Tom, just to clarify that, when you say up 600, 700, 800 basis points relative to '19 -- sorry, if you didn't say 800, I heard 600 and 700. That was -- that's on the current portfolio, which was I believe, if I'm doing the calculation right, around a 28% margin?

湯姆，只是為了澄清一下，當你說相對於 19 年上漲 600、700、800 個基點時——抱歉，如果你沒有說 800，我聽到的是 600 和 700。那是——那是在當前的投資組合中，我相信，如果我計算正確，大約有 28% 的利潤？

Yes. I'd say you're running 35% plus now. And then you're going to have Atlantic City construction roll-off, which should certainly improve revenue and margins. And then you're going to have Lake Charles come on, which should be a significant swing for us.

是的。我會說你現在運行 35% 以上。然後你將有大西洋城建設滾滾，這肯定會提高收入和利潤率。然後你會讓萊克查爾斯上場，這對我們來說應該是一個重大的轉變。

Next question. Our next question comes from Joe Greff with JPMorgan.

下一個問題。我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Joe Greff。

Just a question touching on price elasticity in Las Vegas, especially in light of airfares that are much more expensive now than history and for the driving traffic coming from Southern California with higher gas prices. Are you seeing any segment either on a net worth basis, on an age basis that's exhibiting spend reduction in relation to higher hotel rates, food and beverage pricing and such? And is the sensitivity on that maybe greater during seasonally slower period like you mentioned August when things are obviously pretty heated in Las Vegas?

只是一個涉及拉斯維加斯價格彈性的問題，特別是考慮到現在的機票價格比歷史高得多，以及來自南加州的高油價駕駛交通。您是否看到任何基於淨資產、基於年齡的細分市場與更高的酒店價格、食品和飲料定價等相關的支出減少？像你提到的 8 月，當拉斯維加斯的事情顯然相當激烈時，在季節性較慢的時期，對這一點的敏感性可能更大嗎？

I can't point you to anything in particular, a 55-plus has started to come back in Vegas, like they've not come back since pandemic. We talked about international has returned quite recently, which is a great sign for us. But we're -- when you're running 97% at these rates with up 10% over our prior record, really everything is going great in Vegas. And as we headed into the Board meeting last week, earnings call this week, we checked with our booking channels, are we seeing any softness in Vegas bookings. And what came back is we've actually seen a pickup over the last 2 or 3 weeks. So it is extremely strong. I can't -- there are not strong enough words to convey how well it's going in Vegas for us.

我不能特別指出任何事情，一個 55 歲以上的人已經開始在維加斯回來，就像他們自大流行以來就沒有回來一樣。我們談到最近國際回歸，這對我們來說是一個好兆頭。但是我們——當你以這些速度運行 97% 並且比我們之前的記錄高出 10% 時，拉斯維加斯的一切真的很順利。當我們上週參加董事會會議時，本週的財報電話會議上，我們檢查了我們的預訂渠道，我們是否看到拉斯維加斯的預訂有任何疲軟。回來的是，我們實際上在過去 2 或 3 週內看到了回升。所以它非常強大。我不能——沒有足夠有力的詞來表達我們在維加斯的進展情況。

Great. And just going back to Digital and your comments there. Obviously, it sounds like the improvements both on a revenue basis and then the narrowing of EBITDA losses there. It sounds like it's largely Caesars specific and not necessarily a function of seasonality and/or the environment getting less irrational in terms of promos or customer acquisition costs. Is that a fair assessment?

偉大的。回到數字和你的評論那裡。顯然，這聽起來像是在收入基礎上的改善，然後是 EBITDA 損失的縮小。聽起來這主要是凱撒特定的，不一定是季節性的函數和/或環境在促銷或客戶獲取成本方面變得不那麼不合理。這是一個公平的評價嗎？

And then I'll add a part B to this. When we think about the losses for the next couple of quarters, and I know there's seasonality in the 4Q with football, do we -- would you expect that EBITDA loss in both the 3Q and 4Q to be below that $100 million level or approximating that 2Q $70 million, $69 million EBITDA loss level?

然後我將在其中添加 B 部分。當我們考慮接下來幾個季度的損失時，並且我知道第四季度足球存在季節性，我們是否 - 您是否認為第三季度和第四季度的 EBITDA 損失低於 1 億美元或接近該水平？第二季度 7000 萬美元，6900 萬美元的 EBITDA 虧損水平？

I would expect forward -- I expect we will not have a quarter of $100 million quarterly EBITDA loss in Digital again. We can talk about modeling off-line, but that business -- and we've had a lot of conversations about this, right? How are you going to become positive? The key factor to think about in the third quarter is you had no significant new states coming online. And so your business became dominated by existing customers rather than new acquisition customers. And I can't stress enough that the cost of the acquisition cost versus the retention cost is a dramatic difference.

我預計會向前 - 我預計我們不會再有四分之一的 1 億美元季度 EBITDA 虧損數字。我們可以談論離線建模，但是那個業務——我們已經有很多關於這個的對話，對吧？你將如何變得積極？第三季度要考慮的關鍵因素是您沒有重要的新州上線。因此，您的業務變得由現有客戶而非新的收購客戶主導。而且我不能過分強調收購成本與保留成本的成本是巨大的差異。

So I would expect this football season for everybody. You're going to have New York and Louisiana who were very late last year. So you're going to have a fair amount of acquisition activity there. You're going to have some natural acquisition activity, but you don't have a new state of scale coming online to Ohio in January. So we feel pretty good certainly for ourselves. And I can't speak for what others are doing. We got almost $0.5 billion of what we were anticipating spending in marketing in the last 3 quarters of '22.

所以我希望每個人都能享受這個足球賽季。你將有去年很晚的紐約和路易斯安那州。因此，您將在那裡進行大量的收購活動。您將進行一些自然的收購活動，但您不會在 1 月份在俄亥俄州上線新的規模狀態。所以我們對自己當然感覺很好。我不能代表別人在做什麼。在 22 年最後三個季度，我們預計營銷支出中的近 5 億美元。

So this is a dramatic pivot for us. We're heartened that we haven't seen share deterioration and particularly with what we've seen in profitability. And you know we're really not wanting to lose money when we don't need to. And we've got a long track record of really turning highly subsidized businesses on the brick-and-mortar side into a far more profitable business. It's the same thing that we're doing in Digital. When we started Digital, we didn't have the ability to segment customers. And now we -- so you -- in effect, under-invest in your customers and overinvest in your worst. That's no longer the case. So you can be far more precise in what we're doing, and we see the fruits of that every day as results come in and it's great to see.

所以這對我們來說是一個戲劇性的轉折點。我們很高興我們沒有看到股價惡化，特別是我們在盈利能力方面看到的情況。你知道我們真的不想在不需要的時候虧錢。我們在將高補貼的實體業務真正轉變為利潤更高的業務方面有著悠久的記錄。這與我們在數字領域所做的事情相同。當我們開始數字化時，我們沒有能力對客戶進行細分。現在我們——所以你——實際上是對你的客戶投資不足，而對最壞的情況投資過度。情況不再如此。因此，您可以更加精確地了解我們正在做的事情，並且隨著結果的出現，我們每天都能看到成果，很高興看到。

Our next question comes from Steven Wieczynski with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Steven Wieczynski 和 Stifel。

Tom, you mentioned in your prepared or so-called prepared remarks, unrated play. You saw that slowing. And I guess the first question, is that across both Regionals and Vegas? And then the second question there would be, have you seen any spend pattern changes in your database tiers, meaning that low tier-rated player? Has there been any softness there?

湯姆，你在準備好的或所謂的準備好的評論中提到了未評級的遊戲。你看到了放緩。我猜第一個問題，是跨區域賽和維加斯嗎？然後是第二個問題，您是否看到您的數據庫層中的任何支出模式發生變化，這意味著低層級玩家？那裡有柔軟嗎？

So no difference in the unrated across markets. It's just casino play in general, doesn't move the needle as much in Vegas as it does in regional. In terms of tiers of customers, I think if you go to the lowest end, the properties on the Mississippi River for us in the South, those started softening in January, February for us. And then have been stable, but you're talking about a couple of properties that are $20 million of EBITDA to $4 billion. So nothing that is material to the enterprise.

因此，跨市場的未評級沒有區別。總的來說，這只是賭場遊戲，在維加斯的動向不如在區域內。就客戶層次而言，我認為如果你去最低端，我們在南部的密西西比河上的房產，那些在 1 月、2 月對我們來說開始軟化。然後一直穩定，但你說的是一些 EBITDA 為 2000 萬美元到 40 億美元的房產。所以對企業來說沒有什麼是重要的。

Okay. Understood. Second question, Tom, in terms of the Strip asset sale? I know you're probably very limited in terms of what you can say. But is the delay -- and I'm not sure if even that's the right term. But is the delay here really more around the rate and the funding environment versus the demand environment? Just I guess what I'm trying to understand is if the demand for Strip assets is still as strong as where -- as it was, let's say, a year ago?

好的。明白了。第二個問題，湯姆，就拉斯維加斯大道資產出售而言？我知道你能說的可能非常有限。但是延遲是 - 我不確定這是否是正確的術語。但是這裡的延遲真的更多是圍繞利率和融資環境而不是需求環境嗎？只是我想我想了解的是，對 Strip 資產的需求是否仍然像一年前一樣強勁？

So just to be clear, we've talked about this on other calls. It's very clear the time line that is laid out in the VICI documents that govern this. So we launched early this year, the deadline is by the end of the summer. And every deadline I've ever seen in deal land, the work goes into that deadline. For us -- and there's -- there are plenty of interested parties. Obviously, the financing environment is what it is. And if that's going to impact what someone will pay, there is a level where we're not going to chase it. I'm very happy to just clip the free cash flow and come back later.

所以為了清楚起見，我們已經在其他電話會議上討論過這個問題。管理此問題的 VICI 文件中規定的時間線非常明確。所以我們今年年初推出，截止日期是夏末。我在交易領域見過的每一個截止日期，工作都會進入那個截止日期。對我們來說——而且有——有很多感興趣的各方。顯然，融資環境就是這樣。如果這會影響某人支付的費用，那麼在一定程度上我們不會追逐它。我很高興只剪掉自由現金流，然後再回來。

But as we have discussed, this is a discretionary trade for us. We still think we can get it done within the parameters that we had set at the outset. But we are -- we certainly recognize we live in a market that moves day-to-day. And if financing conditions change, the outcome might change.

但正如我們所討論的，這對我們來說是一種可自由支配的交易。我們仍然認為我們可以在我們一開始設定的參數範圍內完成它。但我們是——我們當然認識到我們生活在一個日新月異的市場中。如果融資條件發生變化，結果可能會發生變化。

But this has become -- for me, it's kind of amusing because when I first started talking about we're to sell our Vegas Strip asset, that the response from full sell-side and buy side was why would you want to sell the Vegas Strip asset? Look at how great it is. And we said there are times in the market that you don't have to go back very far, that where -- we didn't -- we wouldn't want to have owned this many rooms.

但這已經成為 - 對我來說，這有點有趣，因為當我第一次開始談論我們要出售我們的拉斯維加斯大道資產時，賣方和買方的反應就是你為什麼要出售拉斯維加斯剝離資產？看看它有多棒。我們說過，市場上有些時候你不必回到很遠的地方，在那個地方——我們沒有——我們不想擁有這麼多房間。

And now the conversations have turned to, oh my god, can you get this done? This is critical. This is a change in you, not in us. This has been discretionary from us, for us from day 1, and it remains so. So regardless of what level of fear is coursing through the investment community, we put our heads down and we do the work. And if we have a trade that makes sense for us, we'll do it. If we don't, we're fine with it. That's far more than I wanted to say about the Vegas Strip asset sales, so no more questions on that. But that's where we are.

現在談話變成了，哦，天哪，你能完成這件事嗎？這很關鍵。這是你的改變，而不是我們的改變。從第一天起，我們就可以自行決定，現在仍然如此。因此，無論投資界的恐懼程度如何，我們都會埋頭苦幹。如果我們有對我們有意義的交易，我們就會去做。如果我們不這樣做，我們就可以了。這比我想說的關於拉斯維加斯大道資產銷售的要多得多，所以沒有更多的問題了。但這就是我們所在的地方。

Our next question comes from Barry Jonas with Truist.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist 的 Barry Jonas。

Auto traffic to Vegas has slowed according to Citywide, the LVCVA data. Curious if you're seeing anything like that across your database with California visitation?

根據 LVCVA 數據顯示，前往維加斯的汽車交通已經放緩。好奇您是否在加利福尼亞訪問的數據庫中看到類似的內容？

Yes. We've just reported a record quarter, told you July is very strong as well. I mean yes, there is a seasonal in Vegas, third quarter is lower than second quarter because it's 120 degrees. But beyond that, we're really seeing no change in Vegas activity.

是的。我們剛剛報告了創紀錄的季度，告訴您 7 月也非常強勁。我的意思是，是的，拉斯維加斯有季節性，第三季度低於第二季度，因為它是 120 度。但除此之外，我們確實沒有看到維加斯的活動發生任何變化。

The June traffic at the airport was record levels as well.

機場 6 月份的客流量也創歷史新高。

That's right. June seats in Vegas set a record.

這是正確的。拉斯維加斯 6 月的席位創下紀錄。

That's helpful. And then just as a follow-up, any thoughts on the Centaur option here?

這很有幫助。然後作為後續行動，對 Centaur 選項有什麼想法嗎？

For us, you should not expect us to exercise the put. You'll have to ask VICI what their intentions are on the call. But in any event, like any option, I would expect if VICI intends to exercise, they would be looking toward the end of the option period. But I don't know. That's a supposition if I was in their shoes, that I'm telling you.

對我們而言，您不應期望我們行使看跌期權。您必須詢問 VICI 他們在通話中的意圖。但無論如何，就像任何期權一樣，我預計如果 VICI 打算行使，他們將期待期權期的結束。但我不知道。這是一個假設，如果我站在他們的立場上，我會告訴你。

Our next question comes from Shaun Kelley from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Shaun Kelley。

Just 2 questions on the Digital side. Tom, I was just intrigued by the comment around, you will not get near to the $1.5 billion of losses. I think you tackled it on a quarterly basis, but any chance we could get you to help us set a new kind of overall level for us or not quite prepared to do that?

數字方面只有 2 個問題。湯姆，我只是對周圍的評論很感興趣，你不會接近 15 億美元的損失。我認為您每季度處理一次，但我們是否有機會讓您幫助我們為我們設定一個新的整體水平，或者沒有準備好這樣做？

Hard to do in front of football season. We're at -- what are we at? We're at $1 billion, we're at $1.069 billion now. I'd say think about that neighborhood for the next couple of quarters and then improving to inflection to positive at worst in the fourth quarter next year.

在足球賽季之前很難做到。我們在——我們在做什麼？我們現在是 10 億美元，現在是 10.69 億美元。我想說在接下來的幾個季度考慮那個社區，然後在明年第四季度改善到最壞情況下的積極變化。

Super. And then one for either the group or for Eric specifically. But we're thinking about the Digital strategy, 2 parts here. One is obviously, you pulled back some kind of -- has the market overall changed very much as it would relate to promotional spending? And just kind of how are you seeing that cadence work? And then for your own product lineup, can you just talk a little bit more about how you kind of hope to make some inroads on online gaming? Maybe just the product road map on the iCasino side a little bit, given the strength of your database, we've always thought that, that's a huge opportunity for Caesars.

極好的。然後是針對小組或專門針對 Eric 的一個。但我們正在考慮數字化戰略，這里分為兩部分。一個很明顯，你撤回了某種 - 市場整體是否發生了很大變化，因為它與促銷支出有關？您如何看待節奏的工作？然後對於你自己的產品陣容，你能多談談你希望如何在網絡遊戲方面取得一些進展嗎？也許只是 iCasino 方面的產品路線圖，鑑於您的數據庫的實力，我們一直認為，這對 Caesars 來說是一個巨大的機會。

Yes, Shaun, sure. So in terms of what our competitors are doing, we really haven't seen much of a change at this point. We don't know exactly what their plans are for football, but we've heard no indications that they're changing the original strategy.

是的，肖恩，當然。因此，就我們的競爭對手所做的而言，我們目前確實沒有看到太大的變化。我們不確切知道他們的足球計劃是什麼，但我們沒有聽到任何跡象表明他們正在改變最初的策略。

We believe that the performance that we had in the second quarter and as we head into July and the next few months, support our notion we can pull back. And that customers are more sticky than we had originally thought. And that, that's allowing us to be able to have the large reduction to still maintain kind of the revenue levels we were at.

我們相信，我們在第二季度的表現以及進入 7 月和接下來幾個月的表現支持了我們可以撤回的觀點。而且客戶的粘性比我們最初想像的要高。而且，這使我們能夠大幅減少以保持我們所處的收入水平。

In terms of the iCasino, I would say you're exactly right. And quite frankly, that's an area that I think all of us around the table are probably the most disappointed with. We really haven't gained the traction that we want and given our knowledge of how to get to those customers and to market to them and to segment to them and what they're looking for in terms of game type based on the retail business, we should absolutely be a market leader in the iCasino space.

就 iCasino 而言，我會說你是完全正確的。坦率地說，這是我認為在座的所有人可能最失望的一個領域。我們真的沒有獲得我們想要的吸引力，並且我們知道如何接觸這些客戶，向他們推銷和細分，以及他們在基於零售業務的遊戲類型方面正在尋找什麼，我們絕對應該成為 iCasino 領域的市場領導者。

We've been challenged from a tech perspective as well as from a marketing perspective. And unfortunately, that is lagging the sports betting side. So later in the fourth quarter, we're going to be making some enhancements on the tech side, so that we'll be able to do segmented marketing.

我們從技術角度和營銷角度都受到了挑戰。不幸的是，這落後於體育博彩方面。所以在第四季度晚些時候，我們將在技術方面進行一些改進，以便我們能夠進行分段營銷。

And some other things we'll be able to do free spins coming up, which are all basic things that you'd expect would be in place. But unfortunately, they were just difficult from a tech perspective. So I do agree with you that, that is an area of opportunity. And I think if you were to look starting in the fourth quarter into next year, you're going to see us start to make some real progress there.

還有其他一些我們將能夠進行免費旋轉的事情，這些都是你所期望的基本事情。但不幸的是，從技術的角度來看，它們只是困難的。所以我同意你的觀點，這是一個機會領域。而且我認為，如果您從第四季度開始到明年，您將看到我們開始在那裡取得一些真正的進展。

Our next question comes from David Katz with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 David Katz。

If we could talk about just the margins so that we can -- look, 90 days seems like a world away. I know at one time, we were talking about 4%. Is that -- it's still a neighborhood where we think we can live either near term or long term?

如果我們可以只討論利潤，那麼我們可以—— 看起來，90 天似乎就像一個世界。我知道有一次，我們談論的是 4%。那是 - 它仍然是一個我們認為我們可以短期或長期居住的社區嗎？

Well, at the 558, we're 49% in the quarter. World Series of Poker happened in the -- largely in the second quarter. That's additive to EBITDA. It's about a 100 basis point drag on margins. So from an operating perspective, we were at 50% in the second quarter. If you think about forward, obviously got a little bit of seasonality in third quarter, fourth quarter, you must expect a drag on margins. So from an operating perspective, we were at 50% in the second quarter. If you think about forward, obviously, you got a little bit of seasonality third quarter.

好吧，在 558 處，我們在本季度是 49%。世界撲克系列賽發生在——主要是在第二季度。這是對 EBITDA 的補充。這對利潤率造成了大約 100 個基點的拖累。因此，從運營的角度來看，我們在第二季度達到了 50%。如果您考慮遠期，顯然在第三季度、第四季度有一點季節性，您必須預計利潤率會受到拖累。因此，從運營的角度來看，我們在第二季度達到了 50%。如果您考慮前進，顯然，您在第三季度有一點季節性。

Fourth quarter, you might have read, we're going to have some entertainment come online. That's a lot of revenue sales, but that's going to impact Vegas margins. So you're going to have -- when that particular entertainer starts, you're going to have a lot of revenue run through that goes to the artist, a little bit of profit to us and a better customer on the floor.

第四季度，您可能已經讀到，我們將有一些娛樂活動上線。這是大量的收入銷售，但這會影響拉斯維加斯的利潤率。所以你將擁有 - 當那個特定的藝人開始時，你將有很多收入流向藝術家，給我們一點利潤，並在場上獲得更好的客戶。

So 50% is where we're going to we're -- is still a comfortable place for us to hang out? Okay.

所以 50% 是我們要去的地方 - 仍然是我們閒逛的舒適場所嗎？好的。

Yes.

是的。

Our next question comes from Daniel Pulser with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Daniel Pulser。

So I want to hit on regionals first. I mean, I think margins over the course of the quarter, if you could just kind of any color on how the cadence was? I think, because March was, I think, in the high 30s. And then how pace over the course of the quarter?

所以我想先打區域。我的意思是，我認為本季度的利潤率，如果你能對節奏的任何顏色有所了解嗎？我認為，因為我認為三月是 30 多歲。然後在本季度的過程中進展如何？

And then certainly, I get there is some disruption from Lake Charles and Atlantic City. But as we think about the third quarter relative to the second quarter, it's typically -- those are your best 2 quarters of the year. So I wanted to make sure that's still kind of in place at this point?

然後當然，我知道查爾斯湖和大西洋城有一些干擾。但是，當我們考慮相對於第二季度的第三季度時，通常是 - 這些是您一年中最好的兩個季度。所以我想確保此時它仍然存在？

Yes, that's still in play. I would say, month-to-month in the quarter was not a dramatic move across that many properties. So you should figure that the business was running at about the 36% level or so for the bulk of the quarter.

是的，這仍在發揮作用。我會說，本季度的逐月變化在這麼多房產中並不是一個戲劇性的變化。因此，您應該計算出該季度大部分時間的業務運行在大約 36% 左右的水平。

Got it. And then in Las Vegas, I know there was some flooding recently. I wanted to check has that been fully cleared up at this point? And how should we think about the impact, if any, in the third quarter?

知道了。然後在拉斯維加斯，我知道最近發生了一些洪水。我想檢查一下此時是否已完全清除？我們應該如何考慮第三季度的影響（如果有的話）？

I just put my life jacket off. I was all the way out there. It's -- there's no impact to the business at all. It's some good social media footage.

我剛脫下救生衣。我一直在外面。這是 - 對業務完全沒有影響。這是一些很好的社交媒體鏡頭。

All right. And then just one last one. I think you mentioned that group was pacing up in Vegas around 40% versus 2019, including, obviously, FORUM. I mean how should we think about that on a -- I guess, excluding FORUM, is it still tracking up? And what's really driving that? Is it pricing? Is it just food and beverage, additional business or it's just volume?

好的。然後只是最後一個。我認為您提到該團隊在拉斯維加斯的步伐與 2019 年相比增長了約 40%，顯然包括 FORUM。我的意思是我們應該如何考慮這個問題——我猜，不包括 FORUM，它還在跟踪嗎？真正的驅動力是什麼？是定價嗎？只是食品和飲料、附加業務還是只是數量？

It's all of that. It's volume. It's -- you've seen what we've done in other segments of the business that we run versus how they were run prior. The banquet business that comes online is -- it's accretive to margins, even the 50% margins in Vegas. And Michael Massari and his team have done a fantastic job of building a great calendar for us, and all of that comes together for a great outcome. Just to give you an example, Harrah's -- the second quarter, nearly 20% of room nights at Harrah's were grouped nights. And that's a property that had effectively 0 prior to the FORUM Convention Center opening.

就是這樣。是音量。這是 - 你已經看到了我們在我們經營的其他業務領域所做的事情，以及它們之前的經營方式。網上的宴會業務是——它增加了利潤，甚至是拉斯維加斯 50% 的利潤。邁克爾·馬薩里和他的團隊出色地完成了為我們制定出色的日程表的工作，所有這些結合在一起，取得了很好的成果。舉個例子，Harrah's——第二季度，Harrah's 近 20% 的房晚是分組住宿。這是一個在 FORUM 會議中心開幕之前實際上為 0 的屬性。

Our next question comes from David Bain with B. Riley.

我們的下一個問題來自 David Bain 和 B. Riley。

Great. First, I was wondering, you gave some color on structural forward growth drivers in Vegas. And you touched on the associated revenue with conventions. Can you big picture international? Is that a $50 million to $60 million business? And then you also mentioned the 55-year-old demographic returning. Just kind of wondering kind of where we are if you can quantify where that was prior to COVID versus today?

偉大的。首先，我想知道，您對拉斯維加斯的結構性前向增長驅動因素進行了一些說明。你談到了與約定相關的收入。你能放眼國際嗎？那是5000萬到6000萬美元的生意嗎？然後你還提到了 55 歲的人口回歸。只是想知道我們在哪裡，如果您可以量化 COVID 之前和今天的情況嗎？

So directionally, 55 and over is now above in Vegas for the first time since pandemic, but it is still trailing younger cohorts on a comparable basis. So the younger cohorts are up more. That's a much -- in terms of order of magnitude, that's a much bigger piece of the business for us than international. International is a good story for us, but it's far smaller than 55 and over.

從方向上看，自大流行以來，拉斯維加斯 55 歲及以上的人首次超過了這一水平，但在可比的基礎上，它仍然落後於年輕群體。所以年輕的同夥上升得更多。就數量級而言，這對我們來說是比國際業務更大的一部分。國際對我們來說是一個好故事，但它遠小於 55 歲及以上。

Okay. Great. And then one more, if I could. One industry report cited that the OSB Euro SB is looking at a black label site for VIPs. Do you see, Tom, segmentation coming to online? And can you take kind of what you've done offline to online and create margin outperformance, if you will? I mean is that something we miss when we structure our iCasino and OSB models at maturity, looking at international even before consideration of the land-based benefits? How does that trend?

好的。偉大的。如果可以的話，再來一個。一份行業報告稱，OSB Euro SB 正在為 VIP 尋找一個黑標網站。湯姆，你看到分割上線了嗎？如果你願意的話，你能把你在線下所做的事情帶到線上並創造利潤表現嗎？我的意思是，當我們在成熟時構建 iCasino 和 OSB 模型時，甚至在考慮基於土地的利益之前就著眼於國際，這是我們錯過的東西嗎？那趨勢如何？

Yes. I mean, wrapping it into Caesars Rewards, it should -- at maturity, it should be just like the brick-and-mortar business. So we should be able to get more share of wallet from our best customers and not overspend on small customers, which is the same idea as brick-and-mortar.

是的。我的意思是，將其包裝到 Caesars Rewards 中，它應該 - 在成熟時，它應該就像實體業務一樣。所以我們應該能夠從我們最好的客戶那裡獲得更多的錢包份額，而不是在小客戶身上超支，這和實體店的想法是一樣的。

I will say one of the things that you missed that I see missed in analysis of Digital is as we launched -- as all of our peers launched, you saw all these sports partnerships created, branding partnerships, affiliate relationships, all for customer acquisition at launch as these states launch.

我要說的是，我在數字分析中錯過的一件事是在我們推出時——當我們所有的同行推出時，你看到所有這些體育合作夥伴關係的建立、品牌合作夥伴關係、附屬關係，所有這些都是為了在在這些州啟動時啟動。

That runs $0.25 billion through our Digital business today. Those are all contracts that run off -- depending on the contract, 2 to 5 years after they were signed. Now as you get into a more mature business, you're not going to be recutting those deals or you're not going to be recutting them at the levels that you started at. So that's going to be extremely accretive to EBITDA as those -- as the business is seasoned. And I know that's the case for everybody in the business.

今天通過我們的數字業務運行了 2.5 億美元。這些都是到期的合同——根據合同，在他們簽署後的 2 到 5 年。現在，當你進入一個更成熟的業務時，你不會重新削減這些交易，或者你不會在你開始時的水平上重新削減它們。因此，隨著業務的成熟，這將極大地增加 EBITDA。我知道這對企業中的每個人來說都是如此。

Our next question comes from Chad Beynon with Macquarie.

我們的下一個問題來自麥格理的 Chad Beynon。

In terms of sports betting, California initiatives, I believe there are 7 or 8 companies that have backed one of the bills. Can you talk about how you're positioned there? And more importantly, are there states in the U.S. where you would potentially take a hard pass given maybe a higher buy-in or a higher tax rate?

在體育博彩、加州倡議方面，我相信有 7 或 8 家公司支持其中一項法案。你能談談你在那裡的定位嗎？更重要的是，在美國是否有一些州可能會因為更高的買入或更高的稅率而獲得硬通行證？

Sure. I struggle to think of a jurisdiction we would not go to in the U.S. if it opens. I guess, if you think of a very small state that puts up an enormous tax rate, that's a small possibility, but we want to be everywhere. In terms of California, we're not part of either initiative. We have a strong -- what -- we want to see sports betting in every jurisdiction that we can find. We'd love to see iCasino in every jurisdiction we can find.

當然。我很難想出一個司法管轄區，如果它開放，我們不會去美國。我想，如果你想到一個非常小的州，它會徵收很高的稅率，那可能性很小，但我們希望無處不在。就加利福尼亞而言，我們不是這兩個倡議的一部分。我們有一個強大的 - 什麼 - 我們希望在我們能找到的每個司法管轄區看到體育博彩。我們很樂意在我們能找到的每個司法管轄區看到 iCasino。

We have a decade-long relationship with a number of tribes across the country where we've been managing their assets through multiple contract renewals, which was a unique position when we bought Caesars. I've never seen that before.

我們與全國許多部落建立了長達十年的合作關係，我們通過多次續約來管理他們的資產，這在我們收購 Caesars 時是一個獨特的位置。我以前從未見過。

And we don't want to be in opposition to tribal interest when we're their partners. So we've remained neutral in California throughout. You should expect that to be the case in any state where tribes are at odds with the commercial interest.

當我們是他們的合作夥伴時，我們不想反對部落利益。所以我們在加州一直保持中立。您應該期望在部落與商業利益不一致的任何州都會出現這種情況。

Great. And then I wanted to ask you about your kind of hypothetical 50% flow-through. And I know that was more of just kind of, again, a hypothetical if revenues declined and you were really just trying to make the point of strong free cash flow. But within that, I guess I wanted to ask in an environment where revenues are declining, are there some fixed costs, maybe in labor or other OpEx, where you could reduce costs? Obviously, marketing is at pretty low levels. We all understand how the rent -- the lease payments work. But yes, in this hypothetical situation, are there areas where you could kind of trim some of your "fixed" OpEx?

偉大的。然後我想問你關於你那種假設的 50% 流通。而且我知道這更像是一種假設，如果收入下降，而你真的只是想強調強勁的自由現金流。但在這其中，我想我想問在收入下降的環境中，是否有一些固定成本，可能是勞動力或其他運營支出，可以降低成本？顯然，營銷處於相當低的水平。我們都了解租金——租賃付款是如何運作的。但是，是的，在這種假設的情況下，您是否可以削減一些“固定”運營支出？

Yes. Chad, without question. You just saw us live through the pandemic. And the amount of cost that you can cut in these businesses is far beyond even what we thought prior to the pandemic, and we were among the most vocal that there were significant costs to be cut. So one of the benefits of the pandemic for us is you got a sense of what your customer -- what they were willing to tolerate in a softer environment. And I'm thinking in terms of hours of operation for nongaming amenities.

是的。乍得，毫無疑問。你剛剛看到我們度過了大流行。而且，您可以在這些業務中削減的成本數量甚至遠遠超出了我們在大流行之前的想法，而且我們是最直言不諱地表示要削減大量成本的人之一。因此，大流行對我們的好處之一是您了解您的客戶 - 他們願意在較軟的環境中容忍什麼。我正在考慮非遊戲設施的營業時間。

The -- what you can do in a soft environment is far different than what the world believed pre-pandemic. So, I think the -- both the 50% flow-through and the top line hits are far in excess of anything that we're expecting. I really said that to illustrate that even in that scenario, we'd be generating $1 billion of free cash.

你在軟環境中可以做的事情與世界認為大流行前的事情大不相同。所以，我認為——50% 的流通量和頂線命中率都遠遠超過了我們的預期。我真的這麼說是為了說明即使在這種情況下，我們也會產生 10 億美元的自由現金。

And (inaudible) question Brett (inaudible) with Barclays.

和（聽不清）對巴克萊的布雷特（聽不清）問題。

Okay. Great. Tom or any one, I wanted to just get a sense for how you're feeling about your Las Vegas room rate pricing power from here and outside of rooms being removed from the system like with the Rio, what inning do you feel like you're in, in terms of pushing rate just based on your present occupancies, which are really high?

好的。偉大的。湯姆或任何人，我只是想了解一下你對拉斯維加斯房價定價權的感受，從這里和外面的房間被從系統中刪除，比如里約熱內盧，你覺得你是什麼局？再說了，就你現在的入住率來說，真的很高嗎？

I mean I think what you're going to see is the return of group is going to help us grind rate higher because that's going to push out our lowest rate customers. That's what's already happening. And keep in mind, we're about to cycle through where we'll be comping against self-imposed occupancy caps because of labor levels last year.

我的意思是，我認為您將看到的是 group 的回歸將幫助我們提高磨削率，因為這將推出我們最低費率的客戶。這就是已經發生的事情。請記住，由於去年的勞動力水平，我們將在我們將與自我強加的入住上限進行比較的地方進行循環。

So you're going to see even more significant flow-through as we get towards the end of the year with those caps off. So we feel extremely positive about the forward occupancy and rate environment in Vegas. As I said, we're on pace to do better than $1 billion of cash room revenue, which has never happened in Caesars.

因此，隨著我們在今年年底關閉這些上限，您將看到更多顯著的流量。因此，我們對拉斯維加斯的未來入住率和房價環境感到非常樂觀。正如我所說，我們的現金室收入有望超過 10 億美元，這在 Caesars 從未發生過。

Okay. And then just one follow-up. Curious to hear about this Empire days, Las Vegas promotion you guys launched today, if this is a regular way type set of promotions, if it's sort of new or it's more offense or defense? And just any other ways that you'd like to share that you can activate the Caesar Reward system here for any various pockets of softness that we might see in the next 6 to 12 months?

好的。然後只是一個後續行動。很想知道這個帝國時代，你們今天推出的拉斯維加斯促銷活動，如果這是常規方式類型的促銷活動，是新的還是更多的進攻或防守？以及您想分享的任何其他方式，您可以在此處激活凱撒獎勵系統，以獲得我們在未來 6 到 12 個月內可能會看到的各種軟包？

Yes. This is a typical room sale that goes on every year. So there's nothing in particular to call out there. We're running at 97%. July was 96.5% occupancy. So we don't have a lot of extra room to fill at this point. So we feel very good about Tyler and his team in revenue management for us and Sean as the operating leader in Vegas. We couldn't have done better in terms of what we inherited in that group and have a great degree of confidence in the results that will drive going forward.

是的。這是每年都會進行的典型房間銷售。因此，沒有什麼特別值得一提的。我們以 97% 的速度運行。 7 月份的入住率為 96.5%。所以我們目前沒有太多額外的空間可以填補。因此，我們對 Tyler 和他的團隊為我們和 Sean 作為維加斯的運營領導者的收入管理感到非常滿意。就我們在該團隊中繼承的東西而言，我們不可能做得更好，並且對推動前進的結果充滿信心。

I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Tom for any closing remarks.

我目前沒有提出任何進一步的問題。我想將電話轉回給湯姆，以聽取任何結束語。

All right. Thanks for your time, everybody. We will talk to you after the third quarter.

好的。謝謝大家的時間。我們將在第三季度之後與您交談。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's presentation. You may now disconnect, and have a wonderful day.

女士們，先生們，今天的演講到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接，度過美好的一天。