Caesars Entertainment Inc (CZR) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Caesars Entertainment, Inc. 2023 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions). Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Brian Agnew, Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance, Treasury and Investor Relations.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加凱撒娛樂公司 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）。請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在，我想將會議交給今天的發言人，公司財務、財務和投資者關係高級副總裁布萊恩·阿格紐 (Brian Agnew)。

Thank you, Josh, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. Welcome to our conference call to discuss our second quarter 2023 earnings. This afternoon, we issued a press release announcing our financial results for the period ended June 30, 2023. A copy of the press release is available on the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.caesars.com.

謝謝你，喬什，祝所有參加電話會議的人下午好。歡迎參加我們的電話會議，討論我們 2023 年第二季度的收益。今天下午，我們發布了一份新聞稿，公佈了截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日的財務業績。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。

Joining me on the call today are Tom Reeg, our Chief Executive Officer; Anthony Carano, our President and Chief Operating Officer; Bret Yunker, our Chief Financial Officer; and Eric Hession, President, Caesars Sports and online gaming.

今天和我一起參加電話會議的是我們的首席執行官 Tom Reeg；安東尼·卡拉諾，我們的總裁兼首席運營官； Bret Yunker，我們的首席財務官；埃里克·赫森 (Eric Hession)，凱撒體育和在線遊戲總裁。

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

在我將電話轉給安東尼之前，我想提醒您，在今天的電話會議中，我們可能會對公司的業績做出前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述並不是對未來業績的保證，因此，人們不應過度依賴它們。前瞻性陳述還受到固有風險和不確定性的影響，這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與所表達的結果存在重大差異。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，您應該參閱我們新聞稿中包含的警告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委員會。

Caesars Entertainment undertakes no obligation to revise or update any 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 in the company's website at investor.caesars.com by selecting the press release regarding today's 2023 second quarter financial results. I will now turn the call over to Anthony Carano.

凱撒娛樂不承擔修改或更新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。此外，在今天的電話會議中，公司可能會討論SEC G 條例所定義的某些非GAAP 財務指標。 GAAP 財務指標與所討論的每項非GAAP 財務指標最直接可比，以及每項非GAAP 財務指標之間差異的調節通過選擇今天發布的 2023 年第二季度財務業績的新聞稿，可以在公司網站 Investor.caesars.com 上找到類似的 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. We delivered another strong quarter with consolidated EBITDA exceeding $1 billion. Operating trends within our property portfolio remains strong. Despite a tough year-over-year comparison, driven by a single large convention event, our Las Vegas segment delivered its second best Q2 adjusted EBITDA of $512 million. Our regional portfolio delivered $508 million in adjusted EBITDA, down slightly to last year. And finally, our Digital segment reported $11 million of adjusted EBITDA, the segment's first quarter of profitability since we rebranded the Caesars Sportsbook in Q3 of '21.

謝謝你，布萊恩，祝所有參加電話會議的人下午好。我們再次實現強勁的季度業績，綜合 EBITDA 超過 10 億美元。我們的房地產投資組合的運營趨勢依然強勁。儘管在一次大型會議活動的推動下，同比比較很艱難，但我們的拉斯維加斯業務第二季度調整後 EBITDA 達到第二高，達 5.12 億美元。我們的區域投資組合調整後 EBITDA 為 5.08 億美元，略低於去年。最後，我們的數字部門報告了 1100 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA，這是自我們於 2019 年第三季度重新命名凱撒體育博彩以來該部門的第一季度盈利。

Underlying demand trends in Las Vegas remained strong during Q2 with occupancy growth of 100 basis points to 97.6%. Total Las Vegas segment revenues were down 1% as a result of exceptional performance last year in our group segment. Excluding real rent payments, Las Vegas generated $523 million of adjusted EBITDA with a margin of 46.3%. Las Vegas continues to benefit from strong leisure and casino guest demand, the return of international guests and exciting events calendar and the continued strength of the group and convention segment in '23. While our group and convention segment EBITDA in Las Vegas was down year-over-year in the second quarter, pace for the remainder of '23 points to another record EBITDA year for the segment.

第二季度，拉斯維加斯的基本需求趨勢依然強勁，入住率增長 100 個基點，達到 97.6%。由於去年我們集團部門的出色表現，拉斯維加斯部門的總收入下降了 1%。不計實際租金支付，拉斯維加斯調整後 EBITDA 為 5.23 億美元，利潤率為 46.3%。拉斯維加斯繼續受益於強勁的休閒和賭場客人需求、國際客人的回歸和令人興奮的活動日曆以及 23 年團體和會議部門的持續強勢。雖然我們在拉斯維加斯的團體和會議部門 EBITDA 在第二季度同比下降，但 23 年剩餘時間的步伐表明該部門的 EBITDA 又創歷史新高。

In our regional segment, revenues were up slightly and adjusted EBITDA declined 1% to $508 million. We were excited to open 2 new temporary facilities this quarter in Danville, Virginia and Columbus, Nebraska. Both properties opened a strong customer demand. While we faced new competition in a few markets during the quarter, customer demand trends remained stable and similar to prior quarters.

在我們的區域部門，收入略有增長，調整後 EBITDA 下降 1%，至 5.08 億美元。我們很高興本季度在弗吉尼亞州丹維爾和內布拉斯加州哥倫布開設了 2 個新的臨時設施。這兩個物業都開啟了強勁的客戶需求。儘管本季度我們在一些市場面臨新的競爭，但客戶需求趨勢保持穩定，與前幾個季度相似。

Our capital projects continue to deliver solid returns. Lake Charles and Pompano delivered strong quarters and early returns in Danville and Columbus are exceeding plan. We are excited to finish work on the Harrah's Hoosier Park expansion this fall and continue to make progress on the permanent facilities in Danville and Columbus. Work in New Orleans is progressing nicely, and we continue to target a late '24 opening.

我們的資本項目繼續帶來豐厚的回報。查爾斯湖和龐帕諾季度表現強勁，丹維爾和哥倫布的早期回報超出了計劃。我們很高興能在今年秋天完成 Harrah's Hoosier 公園的擴建工作，並繼續在丹維爾和哥倫布的永久設施建設上取得進展。新奧爾良的工作進展順利，我們繼續以 24 年晚些時候開業為目標。

Construction has started on the Versailles Tower rebrand in Las Vegas, which is expected to be completed by spring of '24. And finally, we recently opened a new show in Atlantic City called The Hook, which was accompanied by the opening of Superfrico Atlantic City as well. We have solid momentum heading into the second half of the year as we continue to deliver strong returns on project CapEx, drive profitability in our digital segment and remain focused on operational excellence in our property portfolio. I want to thank all of our team members for their hard work in the first half of '23. Our success is a direct result of their dedication our team members have and their commitment to delivering exceptional guest experiences every day. With that, I will now turn the call over to Eric Hession for some insights on the second quarter in our digital segment.

拉斯維加斯凡爾賽大廈品牌重塑工程已開始施工，預計將於 24 年春季完工。最後，我們最近在大西洋城開設了一個名為 The Hook 的新節目，同時 Superfrico Atlantic City 也隨之開業。我們進入下半年的勢頭強勁，因為我們繼續在項目資本支出上提供強勁的回報，提高數字領域的盈利能力，並繼續專注於我們的房地產投資組合的卓越運營。我要感謝我們所有團隊成員在 23 年上半年的辛勤工作。我們的成功是我們團隊成員的奉獻精神以及他們致力於每天提供卓越賓客體驗的直接結果。現在，我將把電話轉給埃里克·赫森 (Eric Hession)，以獲取有關我們數字領域第二季度的一些見解。

Thanks, Anthony. During the second quarter of 2023, we delivered another significant improvement in the performance of our digital segment versus last year. Our business reported $11 million of adjusted EBITDA on $216 million of net revenue versus a $69 million EBITDA loss last year. Results this quarter represent our first full quarter of EBITDA profitability since rebranding to Caesars Sportsbook in Q3 2021. During the quarter, sports betting hold improved 180 basis points versus last year and iCasino volume increased 27% year-over-year. Our performance this quarter continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of our targeted promotional investment and overall lower level of marketing within our existing customer base as well as customers located in the new states.

謝謝，安東尼。 2023 年第二季度，我們的數字部門業績與去年相比再次取得顯著改善。我們的業務公佈調整後 EBITDA 為 1,100 萬美元，淨收入為 2.16 億美元，而去年 EBITDA 虧損為 6,900 萬美元。本季度的業績是我們自2021 年第三季度更名為凱撒體育博彩以來第一個完整季度的EBITDA 盈利能力。本季度，體育博彩持有量比去年提高了180 個基點，iCasino 交易量同比增長27 %。我們本季度的業績繼續證明了我們有針對性的促銷投資的有效性以及我們現有客戶群以及新州客戶的總體較低營銷水平。

We have recently introduced 4 significant pieces of new and exciting technology improvements that we expect will be well received by our customers.

我們最近推出了 4 項重要的令人興奮的新技術改進，我們預計這些改進將受到客戶的好評。

First, our new iCasino product, Caesars Palace online, is now live in multiple states and pending regulatory approval in the others. The new iCasino product offers a significantly improved product and enhanced marketing capabilities, all combined with the compelling benefits of Caesars Rewards.

首先，我們的 iCasino 新產品 Caesars Palace online 現已在多個州上線，並正在等待其他州的監管部門批准。新的 iCasino 產品提供了顯著改進的產品和增強的營銷能力，所有這些都與凱撒獎勵的引人注目的好處相結合。

Secondly, we recently transitioned our Caesars app in Nevada to our flagship Liberty product, which delivers a significantly improved product for our customers. Pending regulatory approval, we anticipate converting our William Hill product and our retail sports books to the Liberty platform at some point later this year.

其次，我們最近將內華達州的 Caesars 應用程序轉換為我們的旗艦 Liberty 產品，該產品為我們的客戶提供了顯著改進的產品。在等待監管部門批准的過程中，我們預計將在今年晚些時候將 William Hill 產品和零售體育書籍轉換到 Liberty 平台。

Third, we've started out rolling our net native iOS Sportsbook app and anticipate reaching 100% adoption in August. The new native app is receiving consistently higher performance feedback and will result in faster loading speeds, improved stability and enhanced development speed.

第三，我們已經開始推出我們的網絡原生 iOS Sportsbook 應用程序，預計 8 月份採用率將達到 100%。新的本機應用程序不斷收到更高的性能反饋，並將帶來更快的加載速度、更高的穩定性和更快的開發速度。

And fourth, we're on track to introduce our in-house player account management system, starting state by state later this year, which will ultimately lead to a shared wallet that we anticipate rolling out in 2024.

第四，我們有望推出我們的內部玩家賬戶管理系統，將於今年晚些時候開始逐州推出，這最終將導致我們預計在 2024 年推出共享錢包。

These 4 products have consumed significant amounts of technical resources over the past year, and we're very excited to introduce them to our customers. We now offer sports betting in 30 North American jurisdictions, 22 of which offer mobile wagering. We also operate iCasino products in 6 jurisdictions.

這 4 個產品在過去一年中消耗了大量的技術資源，我們非常高興將它們介紹給我們的客戶。我們現在在 30 個北美司法管轄區提供體育博彩，其中 22 個司法管轄區提供移動投注。我們還在 6 個司法管轄區運營 iCasino 產品。

I'll now pass the call to Bret for additional comments.

現在我將把電話轉給 Bret 以徵求更多意見。

Thanks, Eric. As you'll see in our earnings release and subsequent to the quarter end, we successfully acquired the remaining minority equity interest in Horseshoe Baltimore, which allowed us to fully repay its $250 million Term Loan B. Yielding significant interest expense savings given its high cost of debt.

謝謝，埃里克。正如您將在我們的收益報告和季度末之後看到的那樣，我們成功收購了Horseshoe Baltimore 的剩余少數股權，這使我們能夠全額償還其2.5 億美元定期貸款B。鑑於其高成本，節省了大量利息費用的債務。

Pro forma for its repayment and the most recent rate hike from the Fed, our average cost of debt sits just inside of 7%. With annual net cash interest expense of approximately $800 million, which is well positioned to decline going forward, given continued debt reduction alongside built-in spread adjustments tied to declining leverage in our loan agreements.

考慮到還款和美聯儲最近一次加息，我們的平均債務成本僅在 7% 以內。年度淨現金利息支出約為 8 億美元，鑑於債務持續減少以及與貸款協議槓桿率下降相關的內置利差調整，該支出未來有望下降。

CapEx spend is also expected to crest in 2023 at just over $800 million with several growth projects being completed either later this year or in 2024. Coupling declining interest expense and CapEx with continued EBITDA growth sets up for accelerating free cash flow dynamics going forward. Over to Tom.

資本支出預計將在2023 年達到8 億多美元的峰值，多個增長項目將在今年晚些時候或2024 年完成。利息支出和資本支出的下降與EBITDA 的持續增長相結合，將加速未來的自由現金流動態。交給湯姆。

Thanks, Bret. Thanks, everybody, for joining us today. I'm very happy with the quarter, a strong quarter again for us. Starting in Las Vegas, keep in mind, we were up against the strongest quarter that we've ever had in Las Vegas. We were missing a large group that comes once every 3 years to Caesars properties that was in last year's numbers, not in this year's numbers. We telegraphed that last quarter. So that was known.

謝謝，布雷特。謝謝大家今天加入我們。我對這個季度非常滿意，這對我們來說又是一個強勁的季度。請記住，從拉斯維加斯開始，我們面對的是拉斯維加斯有史以來最強勁的季度。我們錯過了一大群每三年一次來到凱撒酒店的人，他們是去年的數字，而不是今年的數字。我們在上個季度通過電報傳達了這一點。所以這是眾所周知的。

What you saw last week in the Nevada numbers was -- June hold in Baccarat was not as strong as it was in the prior year. We participated in that, I don't particularly like to talk about hold, but it's notable enough that I should in this quarter. We're in the gambling business. What we're looking for is the volumes to come through the property, and they came through. We just didn't hold in June like we did in the past June. Both the miss in that -- of the group from last year and the whole impact in June are dilutive to margins. Obviously, the group business for us is accretive to our overall Vegas margin and then clearly, revenue that would flow with normal hold is accretive as well. So as you're looking at margins on a year-over-year basis, keep that in consideration. As we look at forward, in Vegas continues to look very strong. We had a strong July. We feel very good about the remainder of third quarter. And then fourth quarter, you've got Formula One first quarter of '24. You've got Super Bowl, I've said in the past, I think Formula One is a 5% lift, not including whatever happens at the tables really just from increased hotel revenue that hotel and food beverage revenue, that still seems to be the right zip code for us. Demand for F1, particularly at the high end, has been very, very strong for us. We feel very good as to how we are positioned ahead of the event, and we're anxious like everybody else to see how this event plays in Las Vegas as we look to future years.

您上週在內華達州的數據中看到的是——六月份百家樂的持有量不如前一年那麼強勁。我們參與了其中，我不太喜歡談論保留，但值得注意的是我應該在本季度討論。我們從事的是賭博業。我們正在尋找的是通過該物業的數量，它們已經通過了。我們只是沒有像去年六月那樣在六月舉行。去年該集團的失誤以及 6 月份的整體影響都會稀釋利潤。顯然，我們的集團業務增加了我們維加斯的整體利潤率，而且顯然，正常持有的收入也會增加。因此，當您查看同比利潤時，請考慮到這一點。展望未來，維加斯的前景仍然非常強勁。我們度過了一個充實的七月。我們對第三季度剩餘時間感覺非常好。然後是第四季度，你將迎來 24 年第一季度的一級方程式比賽。你有超級碗，我過去說過，我認為一級方程式提升了 5%，不包括牌桌上發生的任何事情，這只是因為酒店收入的增加，而酒店和餐飲收入似乎仍然是適合我們的郵政編碼。對我們來說，對 F1 的需求，特別是高端市場的需求，一直非常非常強勁。我們對自己在賽事前的定位感到非常滿意，並且像其他人一樣，當我們展望未來幾年時，我們也像其他人一樣渴望看到這項賽事在拉斯維加斯的進展情況。

Super Bowl '24 is exceedingly strong from a demand standpoint where we sit today in terms of booked capacity versus a typical Super Bowl. We are dramatically ahead of and at higher rates than typically at this time ahead of the Super Bowl. And if you just anecdotally look at who's going to be getting our tickets, the average customer that will come to the game with us is substantially more valuable than prior Super Bowl. So Vegas remains very, very strong for us, feels very good, really no discernible impact in terms of any recessionary concerns, any concerns about the consumer as we look out. The only thing to call out, Anthony talked about the Jubilee Tower at Valley being converted to Versailles at Paris. We'd expect those rooms to be back online before the end of the year. We don't expect the entire project to be done until first half of next year, but there will be some disruption in that tower at Horseshoe now that we're underway.

從需求的角度來看，第 24 屆超級碗的需求量非常強勁，我們今天的預訂容量與典型的超級碗比賽相比。我們遠遠領先於超級碗比賽之前的時間，而且速度比通常情況下要高。如果您只是偶爾看看誰將獲得我們的門票，那麼與我們一起觀看比賽的普通客戶比之前的超級碗更有價值。因此，維加斯對我們來說仍然非常非常強大，感覺非常好，在我們觀察到的任何衰退擔憂以及對消費者的擔憂方面，實際上沒有明顯的影響。唯一值得注意的是，安東尼談到了山谷的銀禧塔被改造成巴黎的凡爾賽宮。我們預計這些房間將在今年年底前重新上線。我們預計整個項目要到明年上半年才能完成，但現在我們正在進行中，馬蹄鐵塔將會受到一些干擾。

If you look at the regional portfolio and really the whole quarter is a testament to diversification. We had what I'm talking about in terms of the group, the missing group in Vegas, and the whole impact in June in the regional business. We've got a number of properties that are under competitive pressure due to competitive openings. I'd call out Tunica is facing a property that opened about an hour closer to Memphis. That has pressured Tunica. We've got Council Bluffs has been a bit pressured by casino capacity being added in Nebraska. And then we have Chicago properties, both in Illinois and Indiana that are impacted by the expanded casino offerings in Illinois that have come online and continue to come online.

如果你看看區域投資組合，整個季度都證明了多元化。我們得到了我所說的關於團隊、維加斯失踪團隊以及六月對區域業務的整體影響的內容。我們有許多房產由於空缺競爭而面臨競爭壓力。我想說的是，圖尼卡面對著一處開業時間距孟菲斯近一小時的房產。這給圖尼卡帶來了壓力。我們發現康瑟爾布拉夫斯因內布拉斯加州賭場容量的增加而受到了一些壓力。然後，我們在伊利諾伊州和印第安納州都有芝加哥的房產，這些房產受到伊利諾伊州擴大的賭場產品的影響，這些產品已經上線並繼續上線。

On the other side of that, what we've got is the fruits of our capital investment cycle that were, as Brett said, we're reaching -- we're cresting and reaching the end of. You've got new property in Danville, you've got projects in both Indianapolis tracks. You've got Lake Charles now open. You've got the Atlantic City spend. And as a result, our regional EBITDA despite a super strong comp, we're just about flat year-over-year, which I think is going to compare well with others that you'll see over the next couple of weeks. Again, as you look to third quarter off to a strong start, we're comping against an extremely strong third quarter of last year in regional and it looks like we'll be able to beat that this year through July. That's particularly encouraging for us.

另一方面，我們所得到的是我們資本投資週期的成果，正如布雷特所說，我們正在達到——我們正在達到頂峰並達到終點。你在丹維爾擁有了新的房產，你在印第安納波利斯的兩條軌道上都有了項目。查爾斯湖現已開放。你已經得到了大西洋城的消費。因此，儘管我們的區域 EBITDA 非常強勁，但與去年同期相比，我們的 EBITDA 基本持平，我認為這將與您在接下來的幾週內看到的其他地區的 EBITDA 進行比較。再次強調，當你期待第三季度有一個強勁的開局時，我們正在與去年第三季度在地區市場的強勁表現進行比較，看起來我們將能夠在今年到 7 月份擊敗這一季度。這對我們來說尤其令人鼓舞。

Flipping to digital, digital was a loss last year. We've talked a lot about inflecting to positive and driving real EBITDA through that vertical and it's spectacular to see our first full quarter of positive EBITDA. As Eric detailed, I laid a pretty specific targets in terms of where we can be in digital, looking out to '25 on our last call, and then I went to some conferences where a lot of you told me there's no way we'll get there. I would tell you every number that I laid out 90 days ago or so, I'm 100% confident that we're going to hit them. Every metric that I look at going forward is at or above where we were 90 days ago when I laid out those targets. So I tell you, I'm reiterating those targets as we look forward.

轉向數字化，去年數字化是虧損的。我們已經討論了很多關於在該垂直領域轉變為正數並推動實際 EBITDA 的問題，看到我們第一個完整季度的正 EBITDA 令人印象深刻。正如埃里克（Eric）詳細介紹的那樣，我就我們在數字化方面的發展制定了非常具體的目標，在我們最後一次通話中展望了25 年，然後我參加了一些會議，其中很多人告訴我我們不可能到達那裡。我會告訴你我在 90 天前列出的每一個數字，我 100% 有信心我們會達到這些目標。我未來考慮的每一項指標都達到或高於 90 天前我制定這些目標時的水平。所以我告訴你們，我在展望未來時重申了這些目標。

Big -- on the tech side, those are big moves for us. It's very -- you put them in a list. And I don't really know that the impact is emphasized enough when we took over William Hill. William Hill had 1 employee working on iGaming. We were on old technology that was limited in the whole number of wins.

大——在技術方面，這些對我們來說是重大舉措。這非常——你把它們列在一個列表中。我真的不知道當我們接管威廉希爾時，這種影響是否得到了足夠的重視。 William Hill 有 1 名員工從事 iGaming 工作。我們使用的是舊技術，其勝利總數有限。

We soft launched Caesars Palace Casino about 2 weeks ago. We're waiting on approval in a couple of jurisdictions that I expect any day now, and then you'll see a full launch of the product, but I'd encourage you to go take a look. It's a casino first entry into our digital business. And in terms of capabilities, bonusing segmentation, proprietary games, live dealer. It is light years beyond what we've been operating under that, as Eric said, through iGaming revenue, 27% in the quarter. We are fully aware that we have significant competition in the iCasino space. We don't expect that we're just going to come in and run everybody over, but we feel like we've got the product to start to build market share and wrapping that into Caesars Rewards has been and will continue to be powerful for that business.

大約兩週前，我們軟啟動了凱撒宮賭場。我們正在等待幾個司法管轄區的批准，我希望有一天您會看到該產品的全面發布，但我鼓勵您去看看。這是賭場首次涉足我們的數字業務。在功能、獎金細分、專有遊戲、真人荷官方面。正如埃里克所說，本季度 iGaming 收入增長了 27%，這遠遠超出了我們一直以來的運營水平。我們充分意識到，我們在 iCasino 領域面臨著激烈的競爭。我們並不指望我們會介入並碾壓所有人，但我們覺得我們的產品已經開始建立市場份額，並將其納入凱撒獎勵計劃中，這對於並將繼續發揮強大作用那個生意。

So if you look at the quarter, second quarter of last year, was the best second quarter that we ever had, the second best quarter that we had ever had and we topped it in EBITDA this year. So the turn in digital and regional holding its own, offset the loss of that group in Vegas. So this is exactly how we built this business. And it's great to see it come together. One more point on digital, moving to Liberty in Nevada is an enormous lift we were operating on the equivalent of a Commodore 64 computer in the old technology. And now we have the state-of-the-art Liberty app that we operate in all of our jurisdictions. This is a dramatic leap for us in Nevada. If you think about the Super Bowl happening and all of the visitors that will come to the state and our market position in the state, and now we have the app to -- that's competitive with what they've got at home, whether it's with us or somebody else. That's going to be a giant customer acquisition opportunity for us. So we're particularly excited about that. I would expect that 95% of our handle in Nevada will be on Liberty by the middle of this month and virtually all of it by kickoff of football season. So we feel really, really -- this is our third NFL kickoff since we launched our digital business. In terms of how I feel heading into the season, I think we are very, very well positioned as we head in.

因此，如果你看一下這個季度，去年第二季度是我們有史以來最好的第二季度，也是我們有史以來第二好的季度，今年我們的 EBITDA 名列前茅。因此，數字和區域控股的轉變抵消了該集團在維加斯的損失。這正是我們建立這項業務的方式。很高興看到它們走到一起。關於數字化的另一點是，遷移到內華達州的 Liberty 是一個巨大的提升，我們在相當於舊技術的 Commodore 64 計算機上運行。現在，我們擁有在所有司法管轄區運營的最先進的 Liberty 應用程序。對於我們內華達州來說，這是一個巨大的飛躍。如果你考慮到即將舉行的超級碗比賽以及所有將來到該州的遊客以及我們在該州的市場地位，現在我們擁有該應用程序，這與他們在家裡擁有的應用程序具有競爭力，無論是與我們或其他人。這對我們來說將是一個巨大的客戶獲取機會。所以我們對此感到特別興奮。我預計，到本月中旬，我們在內華達州的 95% 的處理量將在 Liberty 上進行，並且到足球賽季開始時幾乎全部都將在 Liberty 上進行。所以我們真的真的感覺——這是我們推出數字業務以來的第三次 NFL 開賽。就我進入新賽季的感受而言，我認為我們處於非常非常有利的位置。

So Bret talked about, we continue to pay down debt. Conventional leverage now is around 4x and going lower. I would expect that to go lower given where we are in the capital cycle where we are with the performance of the business. We're starting to look at what do you do with the free cash flow that will be generated in '24 and '25. And is there a return of capital piece? Or is there an external opportunity that could be interesting to us? I tell you, as sitting here today, 3 years after the Caesars transaction close, we're 30, 60 days beyond the first time where I'm feeling where we can be offensive from an external opportunity standpoint. So it has been a long road to get through everything that happened with COVID, the merger, we really, really feel like we're on strong footing as we head forward. And the cash flow machine here is going to continue to accelerate as results continue to improve. Digital continues to deliver improving cash flow. Interest expense goes down. We really feel strongly about where we sit today. And with that, I'll open it up for questions from the audience.

所以布雷特談到，我們繼續償還債務。現在的傳統槓桿約為 4 倍，並且還在下降。考慮到我們所處的資本週期以及我們的業務表現，我預計這一數字會更低。我們開始研究如何處理 24 年和 25 年產生的自由現金流。是否有資本回報？或者是否有我們可能感興趣的外部機會？我告訴你，今天坐在這裡，凱撒交易完成三年後，距離第一次我感覺我們可以從外部機會的角度進攻的時間已經過去了 30、60 天。因此，克服新冠疫情和合併所發生的一切是一條漫長的道路，我們真的感覺我們在前進的過程中站穩了腳跟。隨著業績的不斷改善，這裡的現金流機器將繼續加速。數字化持續改善現金流。利息支出下降。我們對今天所處的位置確實有強烈的感受。接下來，我將開放觀眾提問。

(Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from Joe Greff with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）。我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的喬·格雷夫。

Tom, given what you've said today tonight, about Las Vegas trends. How aggressive of a scenario is it for you to experience year-over-year net revenue growth in the 3Q? I would imagine the answer for that with respect to the 4Q is not aggressive to have an F1 booking? And then I have a follow-up on digital.

湯姆，考慮到你今天晚上所說的有關拉斯維加斯趨勢的內容。您認為第三季度淨收入同比增長有多激進？我想關於 4Q 的答案並不積極地進行 F1 預訂？然後我對數字進行了跟進。

Yes, Joe, we feel good about third quarter. I'm looking at forward occupancy over the next 3 months in the range of let's call it, 96% to 98%, depending on the property. So we feel very, very good about third quarter. One thing to keep in mind in Vegas is that I didn't touch on in my remarks is Rio. We anticipate it will leave the portfolio October 1. As you're looking to kind of second and third quarter results at the Rio, that's a revenue producer but a drag on EBITDA. It doesn't produce enough EBITDA to offset its lease payment in the second and third quarter. So as that comes off in the fourth quarter, that will be accretive to EBITDA and margins.

是的，喬，我們對第三季度感覺很好。我預計未來 3 個月的入住率在 96% 到 98% 之間，具體取決於房產。所以我們對第三季度的感覺非常非常好。在維加斯要記住的一件事是，我在講話中沒有提到里約熱內盧。我們預計它將在 10 月 1 日退出投資組合。當您關注 Rio 第二和第三季度的業績時，這會產生收入，但會拖累 EBITDA。它沒有產生足夠的 EBITDA 來抵消第二和第三季度的租賃付款。因此，隨著第四季度的實現，這將增加 E​​BITDA 和利潤率。

Great. On digital, maybe this is a question for Eric, but whoever wants to answer it. How do you think about the conversion of OSB and i -- gross gaming revenues in to the net revenue into next year? And then specifically on iGaming gross revenues, we noticed it increased sequentially $80 million in the 2Q versus $75 million in 1Q how do you think about the segment's growth going forward? Is iGaming presently EBITDA positive? And did it account for all or more than 100% of the 2Q EBITDA result?

偉大的。在數字方面，也許這是埃里克的問題，但無論誰想回答它。您如何看待將 OSB 和 i（博彩總收入）轉換為明年的淨收入？然後，特別是在 iGaming 總收入方面，我們注意到第二季度環比增長了 8000 萬美元，而第一季度為 7500 萬美元，您如何看待該細分市場的未來增長？ iGaming 目前 EBITDA 為正嗎？它是否佔第二季度 EBITDA 結果的全部或超過 100%？

Yes, sure. Maybe I'll grab this one, Joe. So from a reinvestment perspective, and you can see this in the Q that was published simultaneously with the call today. Our reinvestment levels as a percentage of volume was around 1%, and our reinvestment as a percentage of gaming revenues was around 22% in total. That's on the lower end, I think, from a percentage of volume is where you'll see it going forward. The reinvestment for existing customers tends to be below that. And then depending on how many new customers we sign up, that will bring that number up slightly. Just generally because second quarter has fewer sign-ups given no football and no start of sports. So that range on a percentage of volume, I think, will range between that 1% and 1.25% kind of going forward.

是的，當然。也許我會抓住這個，喬。因此，從再投資的角度來看，您可以在今天與電話會議同時發布的問題中看到這一點。我們的再投資水平佔交易量的百分比約為 1%，我們的再投資佔博彩收入的百分比總計約為 22%。我認為，從成交量的百分比來看，這是較低的水平，你會看到它的發展。現有客戶的再投資往往低於此水平。然後根據我們註冊的新客戶數量，這個數字會略有增加。一般來說，因為第二季度沒有足球比賽，也沒有體育比賽開始，所以報名人數較少。因此，我認為，未來交易量的百分比範圍將在 1% 到 1.25% 之間。

So from a reinvestment perspective, that's kind of how I would think about it. From a volume perspective, from the iCasino side, and just from a general business side, as Tom mentioned, that's an area where we really feel quite optimistic about. We're finally going to have a competitive product out in the market that we can use to work with our existing database to have those customers that we know and that are loyal to the Caesars Rewards program move over to the online casino side. It was difficult to have that discussion with the customers when they had to go through the sports betting app each time to get to the casino. And so they won't have that.

因此，從再投資的角度來看，這就是我的想法。正如 Tom 提到的，從交易量的角度來看，從 iCasino 方面以及一般業務方面來看，這是我們真正感到非常樂觀的領域。我們最終將在市場上推出一款有競爭力的產品，我們可以使用它與我們現有的數據庫配合使用，讓我們認識的、忠實於凱撒獎勵計劃的客戶轉移到在線賭場方面。當客戶每次都必須通過體育博彩應用程序才能到達賭場時，很難與客戶進行討論。所以他們不會有這個。

In addition, some of the things Tom also touched on, we haven't been able to really do segmented marketing in any degree so far with the existing tech that we had. The new system that we have will allow us to create segmentation and it will allow us to reinvest like we do on the casino side and to use a lot of those experiences. So from that standpoint, when you look forward, we're very excited about the iCasino products and the ability to slowly grow some share and ultimately drive the profitability of the business towards those targets that Tom laid out.

此外，湯姆也提到了一些事情，到目前為止，我們還無法利用現有的技術進行任何程度的細分營銷。我們擁有的新系統將允許我們創建細分，並將允許我們像在賭場方面一樣進行再投資，並利用大量這些經驗。因此，從這個角度來看，當你展望未來時，我們對 iCasino 產品以及緩慢增長一些份額並最終推動業務盈利能力實現 Tom 制定的目標的能力感到非常興奮。

Our next question comes from Carlo Santarelli with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的卡洛桑塔雷利。

Tom, obviously, kind of a little bit of a change in some of your thoughts around the ability to kind of be aggressive as you put it with external opportunities. Could you maybe talk a little bit about how you foresee needs for things that you think you guys could obviously do to enhance growth going forward, et cetera, and kind of the driver behind maybe that comment.

湯姆，顯然，你對外部機會的積極性的一些想法有點改變。您能否談談您如何預見對您認為你們顯然可以做的事情的需求，以促進未來的增長等等，以及可能是該評論背後的驅動因素。

Yes. So we're -- key is we're getting towards the end of a capital cycle, right, as New Orleans runs off, we don't have the -- any of the chunky projects that we've had going really since the merger on our plate. There's some meaningful projects in particular markets, but you're not looking at the $300 million, $400 million, $500 million capital outlays. So from a balance sheet and cash flow perspective, you get to a point where you're going to be generating a lot of free cash flow and look at what do I do with it? We, as a team, have delivered a lot of value over the last decade to stakeholders through external opportunities. So of course, we're going to look for, therefore potential future opportunities now that we're in a position to tackle those, but don't read that as a lack of confidence in the growth potential of the existing portfolio.

是的。因此，我們 - 關鍵是我們正在接近資本週期的結束，對吧，隨著新奧爾良的關閉，我們沒有 - 自從合併在我們的盤子裡。在特定市場有一些有意義的項目，但你不會看到 3 億美元、4 億美元、5 億美元的資本支出。因此，從資產負債表和現金流的角度來看，您將產生大量自由現金流，然後看看我該如何處理它？作為一個團隊，我們在過去十年中通過外部機會為利益相關者提供了很多價值。因此，當然，我們將尋找潛在的未來機會，因為我們現在有能力解決這些問題，但不要將其視為對現有投資組合的增長潛力缺乏信心。

As I said last quarter, we're on a run rate of about a little over $4 billion of trailing EBITDA. We think there's $0.5 billion plus available to us in the digital business and something similar to that in the brick-and-mortar business as we get returns from the projects that have recently come online and are still to come online, and that should push us toward a $5 billion company.

正如我上季度所說，我們的往績 EBITDA 運行率約為 40 億美元多一點。我們認為，數字業務以及與實體業務類似的領域有超過 5 億美元可供我們使用，因為我們從最近上線和仍將上線的項目中獲得了回報，這應該會推動我們走向一家價值50 億美元的公司。

But as you look at where -- what do I do with cash flow when paying down leverage might be generating diminishing returns in terms of shareholder value, then you start to think. Am I distributing that cash flow in some form or fashion? Am I putting it to work elsewhere? And we've got a great track record of putting it to work elsewhere. So we'll explore that as we move forward.

但當你看看當降低杠桿率可能會在股東價值方面產生遞減的回報時，我該如何處理現金流，然後你就會開始思考。我是否以某種形式或方式分配現金流？我是否將其運用到其他地方？我們在將其應用到其他地方方面擁有良好的記錄。因此，我們將在前進的過程中對此進行探索。

Great. And if I could, just one follow-up. As you guys think about the various moving parts in Las Vegas through the back half of the year, you obviously have the Rio, which you noted is coming out that at somewhere in the ballpark of 100 basis points to margins. You have the labor negotiations that are ongoing presumably? And obviously, then you have Formula One, do you see the back half of the year as kind of being -- is flattish to up margins kind of net over the last 6 months of reasonable expectation?

偉大的。如果可以的話，請跟進一次。當你們想到今年下半年拉斯維加斯的各種變化時，你們顯然想到了 Rio，你們注意到它的利潤率大約在 100 個基點左右。你們大概正在進行勞資談判嗎？顯然，那麼你有一級方程式，你認為今年下半年的情況是——與過去 6 個月的合理預期相比，利潤率是否持平？

Yes, I think that's a reasonable expectation, Carlo. And touching on the labor agreements, labor agreements expired by contract at the end of May. We're operating under everybody on the strip is operating under extensions. As we speak, there is work being done in terms of a new contract. I think that it's you're talking about complex stuff that takes a little while. But I'd expect that we'll have new agreements by the fall, and I'm not expecting a whole lot of drama around.

是的，我認為這是一個合理的期望，卡洛。至於勞動協議，勞動協議已於5月底到期。我們在地帶上的每個人都在擴展下操作。正如我們所說，新合同的工作正在進行中。我認為你正在談論需要一些時間的複雜事情。但我預計到秋天我們會達成新的協議，而且我預計不會出現太多戲劇性的事情。

Our next question comes from Dan Politzer with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Dan Politzer。

I wanted to touch on digital first. The hold, I think you called out was 6.4%. It was up 18 bps year-over-year. How do you think about sports betting hold and growing it over time? And what do you kind of see as kind of the guidepost as you kind of maybe get to that 2025 level where you would see that high EBITDA flow through.

我想先接觸數字領域。我想你說的保留是 6.4%。同比上漲 18 個基點。您如何看待體育博彩的持有和隨著時間的推移而增長？當你可能達到 2025 年的水平時，你會看到什麼作為路標，你會看到高 EBITDA 流過。

Yes. It's a great question. I think we've made a lot of improvements over the last kind of year, 1.5 years with respect to just the trading team getting more experience, but also on the tech side. So I think as we go forward, you will continue to see a higher percentage of customers not betting straight wagers. So whether that's an in-play or a player prop or same game parlay type wagers that generally have a higher hold percentage that's going to contribute to the increase. I suspect at this point, we're probably going to get to somewhere, say, 7.5% to 8%, which I think is a reasonable expectation given where we see the mix of our business. We do have a lower hold percentage here in Las Vegas and in Nevada, due to the size of the straight wagers that we take in the state that will drag it down a bit. But overall, I think getting to that 7.5% to 8% is a reasonable expectation.

是的。這是一個很好的問題。我認為我們在過去的一年（1.5 年）中取得了很多進步，不僅交易團隊獲得了更多經驗，而且在技術方面也是如此。因此，我認為隨著我們的前進，您將繼續看到更高比例的客戶不進行直接投注。因此，無論是滾球投注、玩家道具還是相同遊戲的連贏型投注，通常具有較高的持有率，這將有助於增加。我懷疑目前我們可能會達到某個目標，比如 7.5% 到 8%，考慮到我們的業務組合，我認為這是一個合理的預期。我們在拉斯維加斯和內華達州的持有率確實較低，因為我們在該州進行的直接投注規模較大，這會稍微拖累它。但總的來說，我認為達到 7.5% 到 8% 是一個合理的預期。

Got it. And then just pivoting Horseshoe Baltimore, I know you've acquired the remaining stake in that. I think VICI has a ROFR option on that as well as one for Caesars, Virginia. So as you think about that deleveraging path and things are obviously moving in the right direction, can you maybe talk about other ancillary options as it relates to your regional portfolio and the possibility that there's maybe an avenue with VICI where you can get a bunch of cash in the door?

知道了。然後只要轉動馬蹄形巴爾的摩，我知道你已經獲得了剩餘的股份。我認為 VICI 對此有一個 ROFR 選項，對於弗吉尼亞凱撒也有一個選項。因此，當您考慮去槓桿化路徑並且事情顯然正在朝著正確的方向發展時，您能否談談其他輔助選項，因為它與您的區域投資組合相關，以及VICI 可能有一條途徑，您可以在其中獲得大量資金現金進門？

Yes. Look, Dan, I'm not short on cash. So that's really not something I'm targeting. There are ROFRs on both Baltimore and Virginia. I wouldn't anticipate either being exercised.

是的。聽著，丹，我不缺現金。所以這確實不是我的目標。巴爾的摩和弗吉尼亞都有 ROFR。我預計兩者都不會被鍛煉。

(Operator Instructions). Our next question comes from Steven Wieczynski with Stifel.

（操作員說明）。我們的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Steven Wieczynski。

So okay, Tom, following up on Carlo's question, we've now have gotten a bunch of questions from investors about your commentary that you would take this excess free cash flow and in your words, put it to use elsewhere and have a great track record of doing that. So not sure what else you might say there, but can you elaborate a little bit more on maybe just what that means and maybe also give us some examples of that.

好吧，湯姆，跟進卡洛的問題，我們現在收到了投資者的一系列關於你的評論的問題，你會利用這些多餘的自由現金流，用你的話說，將其用於其他地方，並有一個良好的軌道這樣做的記錄。因此，不確定您還會說些什麼，但是您能否詳細說明一下這意味著什麼，也許還可以給我們一些例子。

Short answer is no. I won't give you except maybe we'll buy Stifel. Steve, it's you know who's out there. You know what's possible. You know that there are -- at our size, it's not as easy to find targets that, a, move the needle and, b, are actionable from an antitrust perspective, but there's not 0 targets available out there. And as we get to the free cash flow levels that we get to, given what we have generated in the past in terms of returns, it shouldn't be surprising to anybody that we're going to look for opportunity to keep doing that again.

簡短的回答是否定的。我不會給你除非我們可能會買斯蒂菲爾。史蒂夫，你知道外面是誰。你知道什麼是可能的。你知道，以我們的規模，要找到a、能起到推動作用、b、從反壟斷角度可採取行動的目標並不容易，但可用的目標並非為零。當我們達到我們所達到的自由現金流水平時，考慮到我們過去所產生的回報，任何人都不會感到驚訝，我們將尋找機會再次這樣做。

Okay. I didn't think you'd give me much of an answer, but that's great. I hope you do buy us, then I can come deal (expletive) for you on one of your casino.

好的。我沒想到你會給我太多答案，但這很好。我希望您確實購買我們，然後我可以在您的賭場之一為您做交易（髒話）。

So second question, Tom, you talked about June in Vegas, you had the negative hold you witnessed across backrest. Look, I know high end isn't super, super important to you guys. But can you just give us any color around what you're seeing -- business, especially on the international front? And maybe how those folks have or will be coming back into the market?

所以第二個問題，湯姆，你談到了拉斯維加斯的六月，你在靠背上看到了負面的支撐。聽著，我知道高端對你們來說並不是非常非常重要。但是您能否給我們介紹一下您所看到的商業情況，尤其是在國際方面？也許這些人已經或將如何重返市場？

Yes, Ben, it has been very strong from a volume standpoint, our volumes at the high end, both domestic and international continue to build. We've put in quite a bit of effort. Caesars had a very strong international business when we arrived. Unfortunately, those players weren't traveling. It's great to see that come back.

是的，Ben，從銷量的角度來看，它非常強勁，我們在國內和國際的高端銷量都在繼續增加。我們已經付出了相當多的努力。當我們到達時，凱撒的國際業務非常強勁。不幸的是，這些球員沒有旅行。很高興看到它回來了。

In the interim, we've continued to build on the domestic business. So to give you anecdotal and axonal idea, Steve, I get a hit sheet every day. And in 2021, if I looked at it on a Saturday or Sunday morning, there might be 1 player there. That was a significant swing in our results. Now on a typical Saturday, Saturday, Sunday, I've got 5 to 10 players that are at a minimum, several hundred thousand line of credit. So you've got a much more balanced book. You've got a lot more volume. So it's really continued to build. Obviously, events in the second half in the fourth quarter with F1 and the first quarter with Super Bowl are fantastic high-end events. And as I said, in my remarks, demand for both of them at the high end is extremely encouraging of several months now.

在此期間，我們繼續發展國內業務。因此，史蒂夫，為了向您提供軼事和軸突想法，我每天都會收到一份命中表。在 2021 年，如果我在周六或週日早上查看，那裡可能有 1 名球員。這是我們結果的重大轉變。現在，在一個典型的周六、週六、週日，我有 5 到 10 名玩家，他們的信用額度至少有幾十萬。所以你有一本更加平衡的書。你的音量要大得多。所以它確實在繼續建設。顯然，F1第四節後半段和超級碗第一節的賽事都是精彩的高端賽事。正如我在講話中所說，幾個月來對這兩種高端產品的需求非常令人鼓舞。

Our next question comes from Stephen Grambling with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的斯蒂芬·格蘭布林。

2 follow-ups. First on the digital side. I think I heard you say there's some planned investment into the Caesars Palace app. Does that mean that we should be anticipating step up in marketing and increased promo spend on iGaming in the near term?

2 次後續行動。首先是數字方面。我想我聽到你說凱撒宮應用程序有一些計劃投資。這是否意味著我們應該預計短期內會加大營銷力度並增加 iGaming 的促銷支出？

You should expect us to be visible in terms of promoting the app but nothing anywhere close to what you saw when we launched the sports app. So I would describe us right now in iCasino as, and for the last couple of years, as invisible from a marketing standpoint. We'll become visible in the next month or so, but that's in the -- all of the guideposts and markers that I've given, you should be expecting third quarter for the digital business, as I've said before, is it coin flip as to which side of breakeven we're on, but we should be close. The fourth quarter should be a significantly positive quarter, and then we should be positive from then on out.

您應該期望我們在推廣該應用程序方面表現出色，但與您在推出體育應用程序時所看到的情況相差甚遠。因此，從營銷的角度來看，我認為 iCasino 現在以及過去幾年都是隱形的。我們將在下個月左右變得可見，但這在我給出的所有路標和標記中，你應該期待數字業務的第三季度，正如我之前所說的那樣，是嗎？拋硬幣來判斷我們處於盈虧平衡的哪一邊，但我們應該很接近。第四季度應該是一個顯著積極的季度，從那時起我們應該是積極的。

That's helpful. And my follow-up, just taking one more crack at it on the going on offense comments. Is that comment more direct to domestic or international? And do you generally view that more on the digital or physical casino side?

這很有幫助。我的後續行動，只是對正在進行的冒犯性評論再進行一次攻擊。該評論是針對國內還是國際更直接？您通常更傾向於數字賭場還是實體賭場？

So we are not -- obviously, we have little -- we have Canada as a property we manage internationally. We're entirely domestic at this point. But we are economic animals. If there's something that where it makes sense outside the U.S. that we're willing to get on a plane, but I would expect it would be domestic and I'm not thinking about a big digital acquisition.

因此，我們沒有——顯然，我們幾乎沒有——我們將加拿大作為我們在國際上管理的財產。此時我們完全是在國內。但我們是經濟動物。如果有什麼東西在美國以外有意義，我們願意登上飛機，但我希望它會在國內，而且我不會考慮進行大規模的數字收購。

Our next question comes from Brandt Montour with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的布蘭特·蒙圖爾。

So Tom, just maybe some thoughts on the broader sort of U.S. leisure trends. You sounded obviously confident that you're not seeing any type of recessionary activity or anything. There's just a lot of sort of cross wins and lumpiness across the broader lodging landscape at the low end, and there's been a lot of talk from other hotel operators calling it normalization. Just curious if you think you're seeing any normalization in Las Vegas? And if it's -- if there's any difference at the low end of your database of your properties versus sort of the middle, more maybe the middle tier?

湯姆，也許只是對更廣泛的美國休閒趨勢的一些想法。您聽起來顯然對自己沒有看到任何類型的衰退活動或任何事情充滿信心。在更廣泛的低端酒店領域，存在著很多交叉勝利和混亂現象，其他酒店運營商也有很多談論稱其為正常化。只是好奇您是否認為拉斯維加斯有任何正常化？如果是的話——如果你的財產數據庫的低端與中間層有什麼不同，也許中間層更多？

Yes, Brandt, we're not really seeing anything I can speak to, that's material in terms of softness at any level of property. The only property that, if you're looking at the next quarter, I'd expect to be soft as the Rio and that's because we're transitioning out of the property and a lot of the rated business has already come out of there, but that's obviously unique to that particular property. It feels really strong out here. We're out here today, volumes are as they've been for 1.5 years now, continue to be very strong. As I told you, I'm looking at forward occupancies depending on properties at 96% to 98%. So it's really hard to tell you anything that would give you a bearish stance on Vegas.

是的，勃蘭特，我們並沒有真正看到任何我可以談論的東西，這對於任何級別的財產的柔軟度來說都是重要的。唯一的財產，如果你考慮下個季度，我預計會像里約熱內盧一樣疲軟，那是因為我們正在過渡出該財產，並且許多評級業務已經從那裡出來，但這顯然是該特定財產所獨有的。這裡的感覺真的很強大。我們今天在這裡，銷量與 1.5 年來一樣，仍然非常強勁。正如我告訴過你的，我預計未來入住率取決於房產，為 96% 至 98%。因此，很難告訴你任何會讓你對維加斯持悲觀立場的事情。

Great. That's super helpful. And then maybe just in Atlantic City, curious if you want to comment on how that's performed sort of through peak summer here. I think you're sort of disruption free this summer sort of versus your underwriting or expectations heading into the season.

偉大的。這非常有幫助。然後也許就在大西洋城，好奇你是否想評論一下這裡在夏季高峰期的表現。我認為今年夏天你的承保或預期不會受到干擾。

Yes. We're kind of -- we are disruption-free really since right before fourth of July. We are finishing up the entrance to Caesars Palace. I was out there for the opening of the Hook and Superfrico and really pleased with the way the renovation work has turned out. All that's left is the Nobu Hotel Tower at Caesars, which should be done by the end of the year. I would say in terms of expectations, Atlantic City its not strong as I would have hoped it would be, but it's fine. And obviously, it's within that regional business that was flat in 2Q, and I'd expect to grow a little bit in 3Q.

是的。從 7 月 4 日之前開始，我們確實沒有受到任何干擾。我們正在完成凱撒宮的入口。我參加了 Hook 和 Superfrico 的開業典禮，對翻修工作的結果非常滿意。剩下的就是凱撒酒店的 Nobu Hotel Tower，預計將於今年年底完工。我想說，就期望而言，大西洋城並不像我希望的那樣強大，但也很好。顯然，第二季度的區域業務持平，我預計第三季度會略有增長。

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

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的肖恩·凱利。

Maybe first for just Eric, I just wanted to ask about on the digital side, maybe at a very high level, could you help us think about as you start -- as your expense base is increasingly normalized and you continue to get your product road map where you want it to be. How do you kind of think about flow-throughs in the digital business of sort of percentages in revenue to EBITDA what sort of either kind of a directional amount that makes sense? Or could you help us think about some of the key levers or line items that you could drive improvement from just as we get out into kind of '23, '24 and beyond.

也許首先是埃里克，我只是想問一下數字方面的問題，也許是在一個非常高的層面上，你能否幫助我們在開始時思考——隨著你的費用基礎日益正常化，並且你繼續走上你的產品之路繪製您想要的位置。您如何看待數字業務中收入佔 EBITDA 的百分比？哪一種方向性金額才有意義？或者您能否幫助我們思考一些關鍵槓桿或項目，您可以在我們進入“23”、“24”及以後的時代時推動改進。

Yes, sure. I think if you go back to the prior discussions and calls we've had about the reductions in some of the expenses that we're currently incurring that we don't think will be burden with going forward from either the marketing, the team deals, some of the other fixed expenses like that, you can see those rolling off over time.

是的，當然。我認為，如果你回顧一下之前的討論和電話，我們就減少目前正在發生的一些費用進行討論，我們認為這些費用不會對營銷、團隊的未來造成負擔。 ，其他一些類似的固定費用，你可以看到它們隨著時間的推移而減少。

In terms of the balance of the expenses, I think those are going to -- might increase a bit like labor and some of the others. But broadly speaking, the true variable expenses that we have are really taxes, the reinvestment levels and then super variable things like credit card processing fees and so forth. And in aggregate, those should be around 50%. So that once you break the breakeven level like we have this past quarter and going forward, you should see quite strong flow-through on every incremental dollar that we get. And then for the next couple of years anyway, it will be juiced by the falloff of the fixed marketing expenses that we currently have in the cost structure.

就支出平衡而言，我認為這些支出可能會像勞動力和其他一些支出一樣增加。但從廣義上講，我們真正的可變支出實際上是稅收、再投資水平，以及信用卡手續費等超級可變費用。總的來說，這些應該在 50% 左右。因此，一旦你打破了上個季度和未來的盈虧平衡水平，你應該會看到我們獲得的每一美元增量都有相當強勁的流量。無論如何，在接下來的幾年裡，我們目前的成本結構中固定營銷費用的下降將使其更加活躍。

So 50% on variable and possibly greater than that when we factor in some of those fixed expenses if I'm kind of summarizing that right? Does that make sense?

所以 50% 是可變的，如果我總結得對的話，當我們考慮到一些固定費用時，可能會更大？那有意義嗎？

Yes, I think that's a good way to look at it. If you look at this quarter, it was over 100%. So that's because we're cutting more dramatically than I would anticipate going forward on that fixed side.

是的，我認為這是一個很好的看待問題的方式。如果你看看這個季度，它已經超過了 100%。這是因為我們在固定方面的削減幅度比我預期的要大。

Great. It makes a ton of sense. And then one sort of bigger picture one for Tom. Tom, you kind of mentioned in the prepared remarks a little bit about your longer-term goals from 90 days ago and standing by those. And I just sort of wanted to kind of hit it specifically, was there like something specific you had in mind? And maybe I'm just not it on the either the comment or the joke. But just was there a specific area that was that really directed at free cash flow? Was that directed at the 50% return on digital investment, sort of all of the above. Was there just something you were specifically trying to kind of get across relative to where we sat 90 days ago?

偉大的。這很有道理。然後是湯姆的一幅更大的圖畫。湯姆，您在準備好的發言中提到了 90 天前的長期目標並堅持這些目標。我只是想具體點一下，你有什麼具體的想法嗎？也許我只是不喜歡評論或笑話。但是否有一個特定領域真正針對自由現金流？這是針對 50% 的數字投資回報率嗎？與我們 90 天前的情況相比，您是否有什麼特別想要傳達的信息？

No, it's all of the above, 3 years ago, we told you we think we could generate better than 50% annual EBITDA return on the cumulative losses we generate in building the business. We got to about $1.1 billion of cumulative loss before we inflected to positive, which suggests $500 million, a little over $500 million of annual EBITDA at maturity which I defined as sometime in 2025. And when I laid those markers out last quarter, I got some skepticism back, and I would tell you 90 days later, I'm even firmer in my conviction that we meet or exceed those numbers in that time frame.

不，就是以上所有，3 年前，我們告訴過您，我們認為我們可以通過建立業務時產生的累積損失獲得超過 50% 的年度 EBITDA 回報。在轉為正值之前，我們的累計虧損約為11 億美元，這意味著到期時的年度EBITDA 為5 億美元，略高於5 億美元，我將其定義為2025 年的某個時間。當我上個季度列出這些標記時，我得到了一些懷疑回來了，我會在 90 天后告訴你，我更加堅定地相信我們在那個時間範圍內達到或超過了這些數字。

Our next question comes from Barry Jonas with Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的巴里·喬納斯 (Barry Jonas)。

MGM just announced a comprehensive deal with Marriott. I know you guys have a partnership with Wyndham, but curious how you think about your overall positioning here?

米高梅剛剛宣布與萬豪酒店達成全面協議。我知道你們與溫德姆有合作夥伴關係，但很好奇你們如何看待你們在這裡的整體定位？

I feel fine. Those types of partnerships are useful from a loyalty branding perspective for the databases at the scale of the company that we've got where there's nothing out there that we're missing that I expect would materially move the needle for us.

我感覺很好。從忠誠度品牌的角度來看，這些類型的合作夥伴關係對於我們公司規模的數據庫來說是有用的，我們沒有遺漏任何東西，我預計會給我們帶來實質性的推動。

Great. And then Q3 last year, we were talking a lot about rising energy costs. Curious to get the impact this quarter. And I'm also wondering how the heat maybe affected player visitation, if at all?

偉大的。去年第三季度，我們談論了很多關於能源成本上漲的問題。很想知道本季度的影響。我還想知道炎熱的天氣可能會如何影響玩家的訪問（如果有的話）？

Yes. So you remember it correctly, August, September last year, in particular, we had some unhedged utility costs primarily in Nevada that bit us. We're in a much, much better position over the next 60 days, the same 60 days as last year. So I expect those costs to be lower.

是的。所以你沒記錯，去年八月、九月，特別是我們有一些未對沖的公用事業成本，主要是在內華達州，這對我們造成了影響。在接下來的 60 天裡，我們的處境要好得多，與去年的 60 天相同。所以我預計這些成本會更低。

In terms of weather, there's -- I can certainly probably come up with, weather that impacted us in various places during the quarter. Obviously, it's very hot. Everywhere recently, but there's nothing to point to as a reason for particular weakness or strength in our markets based on the weather recently.

就天氣而言，我當然可以想出，本季度各個地方的天氣對我們產生了影響。顯然，天氣非常熱。最近到處都是，但沒有任何理由可以根據最近的天氣來指出我們的市場特別疲軟或強勁的原因。

Our next question comes from David Katz with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自杰弗里斯的大衛·卡茨。

I'd like to just go back to the digital, if I may. And just looking at the Q and reflecting back on some of the discussions we had about some of the media partnerships, et cetera, there are still some meaningful commitments capital-wise in terms of those costs. If you could shed a little light on how much of that starting to roll off is important for hitting these targets, these profitability targets versus how much of it is just execution on getting the new apps rolled out and doing the business?

如果可以的話，我想回到數字領域。只要看看問題並回想一下我們關於一些媒體合作夥伴關係等的一些討論，就這些成本而言，在資本方面仍然有一些有意義的承諾。如果您能稍微說明一下，開始推出的內容對於實現這些目標、這些盈利目標有多少是重要的，而有多少只是執行新應用程序的推出和開展業務？

Yes. So we've talked in the past about going from 0 to 500 kind of a 3-legged stool with each leg similar in terms of impact.

是的。所以我們過去討論過從 0 到 500 種三腿凳子，每條腿的影響力相似。

One is continued execution in the OSB arena that we've discussed in terms of continuing to grow, continuing to drive EBITDA there.

一是在 OSB 領域繼續執行，我們已經討論過繼續增長，繼續推動 EBITDA。

The second piece is our iCasino share moving toward our OSB market share.

第二部分是我們的 iCasino 份額向我們的 OSB 市場份額轉變。

And then the third piece is the roll-off of partnership and talent contracts over the next 3 years.

第三部分是未來三年合作夥伴關係和人才合同的延期。

And those are relatively equal in size?

它們的大小相對相等嗎？

Yes. I would say of the 3, just basic blocking and tackling is the largest, but it's not dramatically large than other 2.

是的。我想說，在這 3 種中，基本的攔截和搶斷是最大的，但它並不比其他 2 種大得多。

Got it. Okay. And if I may, as my follow-up. Just focusing on the regional business and trying to think through what it's becoming where we look at CapEx and we're always a little sensitive to CapEx that may give the appearance of being defensive. As competition ramps up pretty much across the regions, I suppose what I'm asking is, is this what it is where it's not going to be a lot of growth, there'll be some capital redos that are necessary at some point. But for the most part, right, are what we're looking at today kind of is what it is, to repeat myself a little bit.

知道了。好的。如果可以的話，請作為我的後續行動。只要專注於區域業務，並試圖思考我們在資本支出方面的變化，我們總是對資本支出有點敏感，這可能會給人一種防禦性的印象。隨著各地區競爭的加劇，我想我要問的是，這是否是一個不會有大量增長的地方，在某個時候會有必要進行一些資本重做。但在大多數情況下，我們今天所看到的就是這樣，重複一下。

Look, that's really a macroeconomic question. Obviously, if you had asked that question 5 years ago, none of us saw what was coming from a virus standpoint and the structural improvements in the business in response to that. So it's hard for me to say yes, this just is what it is as far as the eye can see. We always -- so we do 52 quarterly reviews each quarter. So we're going through the P&L of each individual business with the leaders, and we are in properties that we have improved 2 and 3x EBITDA, we still see opportunity to continue to grow as we move forward. So we don't view this as there's not growth available to us in the regional portfolio. And then obviously, we've got project spend that comes online. And I'm careful in lumping defense, there's varying levels of defense, right? If I'm in a market where my property is just hasn't been touched in a long time, and that's impacting my performance levels. I can certainly see a case where you put in some money to change that. And you may characterize that as defensive. I think that's growth from where you're starting from. Now if you take a case of a property that let's use our Tunica property as an example. If a property opens an hour closer to the cedar market, there's very little I can do from an investment standpoint that's going to change that outcome. These are convenience-based properties to begin with. That was the realization that led us to changing the subsidies all the way back in the MTR days. But I don't view it as a mistake, and I'm not referring to us. I see others that are investing in properties that have been around a long time, but they're behind now. Based on what's brought to market, you can choose to continue to erode and see what you can do cost-wise or you can say, "I'm going to put some money in this and change my fortune." I can see people making different decisions faced with similar circumstances.

看，這確實是一個宏觀經濟問題。顯然，如果你在 5 年前問過這個問題，我們沒有人看到從病毒的角度來看會發生什麼，以及為此而進行的業務結構性改進。所以我很難說是，這就是我所看到的。我們總是——所以我們每個季度都會進行 52 次季度審查。因此，我們正在與領導者一起審查每個業務的損益表，並且我們的資產已提高 2 倍和 3 倍 EBITDA，隨著我們的前進，我們仍然看到繼續增長的機會。因此，我們不認為這一點是因為我們的區域投資組合沒有增長空間。顯然，我們有在線項目支出。我在集中防禦時很小心，防禦水平各不相同，對吧？如果我所在的市場中我的房產已經很長時間沒有被碰過，這就會影響我的表現水平。我當然可以看到你投入一些錢來改變這種狀況的情況。你可以將其描述為防禦性的。我認為這就是從你開始的地方開始的成長。現在，如果您以房產為例，我們以 Tunica 房產為例。如果一處房產的開盤價距離雪松市場近一個小時，從投資的角度來看，我幾乎無能為力改變這一結果。首先，這些都是基於便利的屬性。正是這種認識促使我們早在港鐵時代就改變了補貼政策。但我不認為這是一個錯誤，而且我指的不是我們。我看到其他人正在投資已經存在很長時間的房產，但他們現在已經落後了。根據推向市場的產品，你可以選擇繼續侵蝕，看看你能在成本方面做些什麼，或者你可以說，“我要投入一些錢，改變我的命運。”我可以看到人們在面對相似的情況時做出不同的決定。

Our next question comes from Chad Beynon with Macquarie.

我們的下一個問題來自麥格理的查德·貝農。

You've gotten a lot of digital, but I wanted to pile on that. So we get a lot of questions around live dealer given how big the demand is in Europe and the market cap of the leading player over there. So Eric, maybe for you as it relates to your optimism around iGaming in general, is this expected to be a major piece of the business going forward? And given, I guess, the branding, the marketing, some of the IP that you have, would you consider doing this in-house or use third-party exclusive vendors to have the Caesars experience?

你已經掌握了很多數字技術，但我想繼續增加。因此，考慮到歐洲的需求有多大以及那裡領先玩家的市值，我們收到了很多有關現場荷官的問題。埃里克（Eric），也許對您來說，因為這與您對 iGaming 的總體樂觀態度有關，這是否預計將成為未來業務的主要組成部分？我想，考慮到品牌、營銷和你擁有的一些知識產權，你會考慮在內部做這件事還是使用第三方獨家供應商來獲得凱撒體驗？

Yes, sure. I'd say it's definitely going to be a major part of the business going forward. If you look at our current Sportsbook app, which is -- or sorry, the Casino app, which is part of the Sportsbook, we have a disproportionately high percentage of table games action versus slot action. And -- though it's a high percentage of the live dealer just because of that larger denominator on the table game side.

是的，當然。我想說這肯定會成為未來業務的主要部分。如果你看看我們當前的體育博彩應用程序，或者抱歉，賭場應用程序，它是體育博彩的一部分，我們的桌面遊戲動作與老虎機動作的比例不成比例地高。而且——儘管現場荷官的比例很高，只是因為桌面遊戲方面的分母更大。

Going forward, the stand-alone Caesars Palace app is going to have a higher percentage of slot business than table. But it's still going to have live dealer. And of the overall table games, we do expect that live dealer product to be a sizable percentage. So going forward, it's absolutely a key component of the business. I would say, previously, we haven't had as much exposure to that. We haven't had branded games, we haven't had dedicated games. We haven't had a lot of the product that's out there, just we haven't incorporated it into the app, which we will on the new Caesars Palace app.

展望未來，獨立的凱撒宮應用程序的老虎機業務比例將高於賭桌。但它仍然會有現場荷官。在整個桌面遊戲中，我們確實預計現場荷官產品將佔據相當大的比例。因此，展望未來，它絕對是業務的關鍵組成部分。我想說的是，以前我們對此沒有太多接觸。我們沒有品牌遊戲，也沒有專門的遊戲。我們還沒有很多產品，只是我們還沒有將其整合到應用程序中，我們將在新的凱撒宮應用程序中整合它。

In terms of the question about doing it in-house or through a third party, we're definitely going to want to have some branded customized games, but I don't see us bringing it in-house at this point in anywhere in the near future.

就內部或通過第三方進行的問題而言，我們肯定會想要一些品牌定制遊戲，但我認為我們目前不會在任何地方將其引入內部不遠的將來。

Okay. Appreciate it. And then just in terms of legislation that we should be keeping an eye on, I believe North Carolina is out there potentially talking about some expansion of land-based gaming. And then on the iGaming front, that will probably roll into Q1 of '24. Anything else that we should be watching or you're keeping an eye on in the legislative session?

好的。欣賞它。然後就我們應該關注的立法而言，我相信北卡羅來納州可能正在談論一些陸地遊戲的擴張。然後在 iGaming 方面，這可能會進入 24 年第一季度。在立法會議上還有什麼我們應該關注的或者你要關注的嗎？

Not in particular. I mean, from a jurisdictional standpoint, the most relevant to us in the near term is New York land-based license issuance and that's we're deep into that and hopeful.

不是特別。我的意思是，從司法管轄權的角度來看，近期與我們最相關的是紐約陸基許可證的發放，我們對此深入研究並充滿希望。

Our next question comes from John DeCree with CBRE.

我們的下一個問題來自 CBRE 的 John DeCree。

Maybe one for Bret on the balance sheet. I think you mentioned in your prepared remarks, what was the decision to pull the trigger on Horseshoe Baltimore, Obviously, the cost of debt made sense. The timing, was it contractual? Was it to negotiate it with the parameters of that buyout of your partner, something that you guys just kind of did on your own? And I don't know if you could share what you paid for the minority interest?

也許是資產負債表上布雷特的一個。我想你在準備好的發言中提到，扣動巴爾的摩馬蹄鐵扳機的決定是什麼，顯然，債務成本是有道理的。時間，是合同規定的嗎？是不是要與你的合作夥伴的收購參數進行談判，這是你們自己做的事情？我不知道您是否可以分享您為少數股權支付的費用？

Yes. On the minority interest, always we're opportunistic around pulling in assets at the right valuation. So we took that in for a little under $70 million. So you'll see that in the Q. And once we collapse and owned 100% of it, if you look at that cost of debt, the term loan was prepayable at par, and was mid-9s on the interest rate with our nearest maturity. So in my land, that's called a no-brainer in terms of what to repay next with our free cash flow.

是的。在少數股東權益方面，我們始終會機會主義地以正確的估值引進資產。所以我們花了不到 7000 萬美元買下了它。所以你會在問題中看到這一點。一旦我們崩潰並擁有它的100%，如果你看看債務成本，定期貸款是按面值提前償還的，並且利率是與我們最接近的利率的9 美元左右。到期。因此，在我的土地上，這對於接下來用我們的自由現金流償還什麼來說是理所當然的。

Perfect. And then maybe one for Tom or Eric, you've kind of covered a lot of ground on digital, but it looks like a pretty successful, world series of poker for you. Obviously, a great brand. Online poker isn't a big industry right now, but it's kind of one of your strong suits. As you think about your iGaming business going forward, are there some opportunities on the poker side and with World Series of Poker brands that you could see going forward?

完美的。然後也許是湯姆或埃里克，你已經涵蓋了很多數字領域的知識，但它看起來對你來說是一個非常成功的世界撲克系列賽。顯然，這是一個偉大的品牌。在線撲克目前還不是一個大行業，但它是你的強項之一。當您考慮未來的 iGaming 業務時，您認為撲克方面以及世界撲克系列賽品牌未來是否存在一些機會？

Yes. Look, you're absolutely right. It was an all-time record World Series of Poker, both from a prize money perspective, participants perspective, but also from the ability to really provide contribution to the properties that hosted it. We moved it to the Horseshoe last year. So it was kind of the first year that was branded as a Horseshoe, and it really drives a lot of activity to the property, a lot of food and beverage, a lot of hotel revenues. So it's really great for us from a portfolio perspective in addition to the direct revenues that it drives to the -- from the actual tournament itself.

是的。你看，你說得完全正確。無論是從獎金角度、參與者角度，還是從為主辦賽事的產業做出真正貢獻的能力來看，這都是世界撲克系列賽的歷史紀錄。去年我們把它搬到了馬蹄鐵。所以，這是被打上馬蹄鐵品牌的第一年，它確實為酒店帶來了大量的活動、大量的食品和飲料以及大量的酒店收入。因此，從投資組合的角度來看，除了它從實際錦標賽本身帶來的直接收入之外，這對我們來說真的很棒。

From an online perspective, we really don't see much movement in terms of new states legalizing, so it's kind of a business that is kind of flat at this point. It vacillates between going up and down based on how customers go. But from a brand perspective, we think it's definitely accretive to the company and does provide these incentives for customers to come to the brick-and-mortar locations for the tournaments.

從網上的角度來看，我們確實沒有看到新州合法化方面有太大的進展，所以目前這項業務有點平淡。它根據客戶的情況在上升和下降之間搖擺。但從品牌的角度來看，我們認為這絕對對公司有好處，並且確實為客戶來到實體場地觀看比賽提供了這些激勵。

Thank you. I'd now like to turn it back to Tom Reeg for any closing remarks.

謝謝。現在我想請湯姆·雷格（Tom Reeg）發表結束語。

Thanks, everybody, for your time, attention and support, and we will talk to you in November if we don't see at a conference sooner.

感謝大家的時間、關注和支持，如果我們不早點在會議上見面，我們將在 11 月份與您交談。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。